Despair
by Moofy-Fan
Summary: After Al was killed at the age of 7, Ed tried to bring him back, creating Dispair, the homunculus. What will happen when Ed trys to track down his brother's killer. Disclamer: I don't own FMA. First story. -DISCONTINUED-
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

8 and 7 year old Edward and Alphonse Elric sat by the river. It had been a week since there mother Trisha's death, and the two boys were far from over her absence. The boys had come to the river almost every day since her death, there friend Winry came to bring them home everyday for dinner. It was getting late in the day, so Ed expected Winry to come for them soon. He looked over to his brother. Al had been devastated since Trisha's death, only talking to Ed. "Al," Ed said softly, putting a hand on his brothers shoulder. Al looked up at his brother. He had been the only person Al would open up too since there mother's death. Al knew that Winry and Granny were there for him and his brother, but he just needed some time. "Al, I-" Ed started but was cut short by a sudden figure behind his brother. Al turned around to see a tall skinny man with long green hair smiling brightly.

" Hello, nice to meet you two, too bad it wont last long" He said, and turned his arm into a blade. Ed grabbed Al and pushed him away into the grass as the man lunged forward. Ed managed to scramble out of the way of a slash to the heart, but gained a nasty cut on the arm.

"Brother!" Al screamed and started to run forward. Ed turned to Al, fear in his eyes. Ed would not let his brother get hurt.

"Stay back Al!" Ed yelled, running from there attentive killer. Al halted to a stop, frozen. There was no way he was going to let his brother die, not when he could help. Al knew he should either run forward or away, but he couldn't seem to do either, his legs where dead, and so was his brain, the couldn't think, or move, or even breath. Suddenly his brother's scream brought him back, with one thought in his head, save Ed, no matter what the cost.

Ed ran away from the man, terrified for his and his brother's life. If I could just get this guy away from Al, it will be fine, Ed thought, leading the man away. Suddenly, Ed felt a hot, stinging pain in his shoulder and let out a scream, falling over. Ed looked up to see the green man right above him, blade held high in the air.

"Goodbye, brother," The said quietly, swinging the blade down. He could feel the blade cutting smoothly though hot flesh. He smiled, finally, he thought, revenge. He looked down, he didn't even realize he had been looking up, and saw a small body lying on the ground motionless.

Ed closed his eyes, knowing what was about to happen, just let Al be safe, he thought, waiting for the metal blade to cut though him, and he waited, but, it didn't come. Ed slowly opened his eyes, but what he saw made him wish he didn't. "Al!" He shouted, tears already flowing from his eyes, as he crawled over to his brother, who lay bloody on his side, dead.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Edward held his brother, crying. He didn't care about the killer anymore, he would actually be thankful for him to take his life. Ed cried his brother's name over and over again, as if by saying it, he would hear him and come back to life. "Al…. please no….. Alphonse….. Alphonse…. Alphonse…… please brother….no….Alphonse…" Edward choked though salty tears.

Envy smiled, he had intended to kill the oldest first, looking most like _him_, but this worked too, now he wouldn't run. Envy stepped toward the crying child, vary intent on finishing him off, when he felt sharp blades pressed against him neck. "Lust," He said happily, "What brings you here?" He asked, the blades reseeding. He turned around to face a very lovely lady in a way too reviling dress. She stared at him, fingers still slightly long with blades.

"The real question is what are you doing here, you know master wants the two boys alive," the woman known as Lust said, glancing at the boys. The man shrugged carelessly.

"Oh really, no one told _me_ that, I was just having some fun, and some revenge, oh and I sure do hope she didn't want them both alive, cause then she's gonna have some difficulties with the one being dead and all" He said casually, all the wile a insane grin on his face.

"Envy, you were the first to know, master shall be enraged when she hears of what you've done to the Elric!" Lust yelled, reviling the man as Envy. Edward glanced up and stared at his brother's murderer.

"Envy" he whispered quietly, under his breath. There was no way he would forget that name, he would make that man pay for what he did to his brother. He saw them speak for a wile longer, and then they left. Ed made sure to burn there images into his mind, he would not forget.

Ed sat there crying, Alphonse in his arms, for what seemed like hours. He had injuries of his own, but he didn't care, he would not leave his brother. After what Ed thought was either a 100 years or 10 minuets, he heard someone gasp. "Ed! Al! What- oh god…" it was Winry, Ed knew how shocked she must have been to see all this, to see Al dead in his arms, but he didn't say anything, more tears just started to stream down his face. Winry backed up, then started to run back home, she needed to get them help, that's all she knew or cared about.

She ran up to her front door, tears running down her face "Granny! Ed, Al, please, help!" She managed to get out, already starting to drag her grandmother out the door. When they got to the river Ed didn't even look up, all he cared about was Al, and all he wanted to do was stay with him, no matter what. It wasn't until they managed to pick Al off of Ed that Ed looked at them and stood. Ed didn't pay attention to what happened after that, he didn't care, Al had been taken away, and he could do nothing about it. The next thing he realized, he was at Al's funeral. It was there he decided that there was no way to keep on going without his precious brother. He would bring him back, he had to bring him back, there was no other choose. The funeral was over almost as soon as Ed realized what he had to do. Paniko and Winry stayed for a wile longer, Ed stayed the longest.

"Al," Ed started, staring at the ground, "I'm gonna bring you back, don't worry, you just wait, I promise I wont let you stay like this, I promise…" Ed trailed off, starting to cry again.

It had been one year since Alphonse death, and Ed was ready to bring him back. The circle was ready, the ingredients were there, everything was perfect, he would have his little brother back soon. "alright Al, ready to come back?" Ed said, kneeling next to the circle, and placed his hands on it to activate the transmutation. Everything went yellow, and then purple. Edward looked around franticly, it wasn't going the way he planned. All of a sudden, he was surrounded by a yellow light, in front of an enormous gate, which opened, reviling hundreds of eyes.

Ed tried to back away, but couldn't move, suddenly, information was poured into his head, hundreds and hundreds of books of information. Then, it stopped, and he was back in front of the gate. He then heard a voice. "What?" was all he was able to get out, before hundreds of stringy arms came and started grabbing at him, pulling off both his right arm and left leg.

The next thing Ed knew, he was back in the room. He could barely see though the smoke, but he didn't need to see to tell his arm and leg were gone. Then he got one thought in his mind, Al. "Al, Al ya there, Alphonse Alpho-" Ed stopped in mid-name, seeing what had been made from the transmutation. His eyes widened in shock, what he saw was defiantly not his brother, it couldn't be, it terrified him. He screamed, then passed out.

"Ed, Ed we saw the light and, oh my…" Winry said, running into the basement after looking in all the other rooms. "Granny, help, I found him, he's hurt!" Winry screamed up the stairs, as she attempted to pick up Ed. "Please be ok Ed, please," She whispered, putting Ed on her shoulder.

"Winry…." Ed said, apparently gaining some consciousness. Winry helped tighten on to him, afraid of dropping her injured friend.

"Don't talk, your hurt and lost a lot of blood, just relax, me and granny are here now, we're gonna help you," she said, walking over to the steps.

"I couldn't do it, I couldn't get him back, why?" Ed barely managed to ask. Winry looked down, now understanding what Ed had been doing. Ed had passed out again, and they were able to take him back to there house and bandage him up.

Ed opened his eyes, and looked around, then, it all came back to him. "Al…" He whispered softly, remembering the thing he had saw. Suddenly the door opened.

"Oh good, your awake, we thought you weren't gonna make it there for a second," Winry said, placing a tray down on the side table. Ed looked at her, then looked down, and just stared in shock at his one leg. Winry looked at him sympathetically. "Don't you remember? You lost your leg, arm too" Ed stared at her, then looked over to his right arm, she was right, it was gone.

"Why?" He asked after a moment of silence, startling Winry. "Why couldn't I bring him back?" He asked again, looking down. Winry stared at him. She was about to say something, but Ed cut her off. "Wasn't, wasn't I good enough to get him back, I had it all planned, it was, it was perfect, what went wrong, didn't I, didn't I care enough for him, didn't I?" Ed choked out, starting to cry. Winry felt like she was going to cry too.

"Of course you cared enough for him, there's no doubt about that Ed, it was just, think about it, you probably did have everything perfect, but, well, you know what your always saying about that alchemy, the equivalent thing, what in the world could equal Al's soul, that's probably what went wrong, it wasn't your fault," Winry said, near tears by the time she was done. Ed wiped his eyes and looked up at her.

"Can I have automail? I have the money," Ed asked, looking back down. Winry attempted to smile, and nodded.

"Of course you can Ed," Winry said, starting to cry.

A man with long green hair walked behind a house in the countryside, up to a blob of organy mess. "So, you're the new homunculus, huh? What a surprise" Envy said, taking it away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It had been about 3 weeks since the new homunculus was brought into there home. He was slowly gaining shape and form. He had been put into one of the many spare rooms. After a wile he sat up, body finally stable. He looked around him, a blank look on his face, until he saw a small table and the bed. He got up and stood on wobbly legs. Once he got his footing he walked over to the objects. He placed his hands on the table. He put his hand in a fist and knocked on the wood. He smiled, he liked the sound it made. He then turned his attention to the bed, placing his hands on it, he was surprised to see them push it down, and not be sturdy like the table. He pulled his hands back quickly, and then, slowly, put them back on. It was soft, he liked it. He turned around, liking what he had found so far in this little space, and wanting to see more.

He saw a spot in the wall, that was covered with long, shimmery stuff. He walked over to it, almost tripping from a lack of walking experience. Once he made it, he touched the shimmery object, that easily moved away, even more easy then the bed. Pushing it aside, he was shocked at what he saw. All the light and color and things in the small opening he had found. He started in awe, amazed by the sight. Slowly, he put his hands towards what he saw, but pulled back scared when they hit something. He didn't see anything in his way, why couldn't he touch all that stuff. He pushed his hand up against the thing blocking his way, it was a little cold. He ran his fingers all over it, then he took his fingers away, still confused. He than heard something, it was coming closer. He looked around franticly, the soft thing, he ran towards the bed and crawled under it quickly, just in time for the person to come in and not see him.

Envy looked at the try like thing that the new homunculus was held in, but he wasn't in it. "He's gone, where'd he go?" He said, befuddled. He started to look around the room, as the boy scooted closer to the wall. "Come on kid, not gonna hurt you, just come out," Envy said, kneeling down to look under the bed. Sighing, Envy saw him, "Come on kid, get out of there," Envy persuaded. He carefully came out from under the bed. Envy looked at him, "I'll go get you some clothes," He said, leaving the room. He came back shortly with some long black pants and a short sleeve shirt. "Here, put this on," He said, tossing the clothes, which the boy quickly put on. "Dante's not here, so we're just gonna have to wait till she comes back to figer out a name for you and all that other stuff." Envy said, taking a seat on the bed. The boy stared at him. Envy looked up at him, "What, if ya wanna say something, just say it, you can talk right?" Envy asked, startling the boy. He looked down. "Come on, the other homunculus all knew how to talk, what, you not fully formed yet, you look it," Envy said, trying to get something out of him.

"Um, I-I don't know," The boy said quietly, scared. Envy looked up at him, glad that he managed to get something out of him. He smirked, he was gonna like this.

"Ah, so you _can _talk, well, what do you think so far?" Envy asked. The boy just stared at him, confused by his question. "Well, what do you think of this place so far, got any questions, you must of tried some exploring if you managed to get under the bed, and your standing pretty good now, anything you saw that interest you?" Envy asked him, the boy started to think, then looked up, remembering the invisible thing blocking all the pretty stuff.

"The, the thing, that's behind that soft stuff, I can't touch any of it, there's something in the way, but I can't see it, what is it?" He asked, pointing to what he had been describing. Envy laughed, making the boy feel like he had asked a stupid question, but it didn't seem stupid to him, he wanted to know what was blocking his way, he didn't like it, he wanted to reach all that stuff he saw. Envy had stopped laughing and looked at him.

"That stuff is glass, the soft stuff us a curtain, the thing is a window, all the stuff you saw, is outside, it's blocking your way, cause that's what it's supposed to do, keep thing from outside out, if you want to go out there later, I'll take you, but not right now, ok?" Envy explained, making the boy understand a little bit, but it still confused him, and he still didn't like it blocking his way. Envy looked over at him, "That all?" He asked, making the boy jump again.

"Ya, I think so…" The boy said, still looking at the window. Envy sighed, walked over to the window, and moved away the curtains, and opened the window. He looked back over to the boy, who stared in awe.

"There, you can stick your hand out if you want," The boy walked over to the window, and put his hand out slowly, smiling brightly when it went out all the way. He then stuck his head out the window, wanting to get a closer look at the stuff the man called outside. Envy noticed what he was doing. "Hey kid, get back in here, your gonna fall out," Envy said, pulling him back in. "Look, I opened the window for you so you would stop obsessing over it, not for you to fall three stories" Envy said, for they were, indeed, on the 3rd floor, and the boy had been leaning dangerously far out the window. He looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry," He said, upset he made the person who had tried to help him mad. Envy looked at him, kind of shocked, no one ever apologized to him before, well, no one that actually meant it. He wasn't sure if he wanted this kid to get corrupted by the red stones after all.

"Look kid, it's fine, really, you didn't do anything wrong, ok?" Envy said, trying to make the kid seem less sad and depressed. The boy looked up at him, still kind of upset.

"Alright," He said, making Envy calm down a little bit. Envy glanced over at the window, not really sure about what to do next. When he saw someone walking up to the house.

"Oh, Dante's back, you stay right here, I'll go get her, she can explain everything to you, alright?" Envy said heading towards the door, but turned back in time to see the boy nod his head. Envy nodded back and closed the door behind him.

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"Oh Envy, how is the new homunculus doing?" A older woman asked.

"He's completely formed, can walk and talk and everything, I got him some clothes and stuff, now all he needs is a name and some red stones," Envy told her, she nodded and started walking up the stares, Envy followed her. When she walked into the room the boy backed up a little, but calmed down when he saw Envy behind her.

"Well well well, what do we have here, you are completely formed aren't you," She said looking at him closely. He backed up a little, scared. "Here, eat this," She said, giving him some stones. The boy stared at them, they were beautiful, he didn't want to eat them,, staring at them, he almost lost connection with the world around him.

"Hey kid, just eat them already," Envy said, braking him out of the stones trance. He obediently put the stones in his mouth, they were amazing. He wanted more, he had to have more. Suddenly he had a pain in his head, it felt like someone was prying his head open with a hammer. He fell to the ground, grabbing his head. Then, information started pouring into his head, memories, someone reaching out for him, screaming, and the man who had opened the window, he was there too, it all came by so fast, he couldn't make sense of it, he just wanted it to stop, it hurt so much.

Envy watched him wither in pain on the floor, he'd seen I before, it happened every time, but for some reason he felt bad for the boy, he didn't know why, homunculus don't have feelings, they don't care for things, so why would it matter to him if the kid was in pain, it didn't, but, he still hated to watch.

"B-brot-her…….he-lp…me…." The boy choked out threw tears. Envy looked at him, almost flinching when he heard what he said. _His, his brother…._ He thought, remembering the day he had actually killed the boy, before he had been a homunculus. Envy turned around swiftly and started towards the door. Dante turned around and looked at him, confused by his sudden actions.

"Envy?" She asked. He stopped walking for a second, hand on the doorknob. Without looking back he just stood there for a second.

"I'm going outside" He said finally, not able to deal with the boys screaming anymore. With every shriek of pain he thought of when he killed the boy, and it made him feel terrible, when he should of felt excited, he loved cutting though that basterd's sons flesh, why in the world would he be feeling regret over something he loved doing.

A few minuets later the boy had stopped his screaming, and was able to sit up, but he was terrified. Dante stooped down to his level, he backed away, confused, he suddenly remembered things, he was a homunculus, he had died, he had a brother, when he was alive that is. Dante smiled at him, "From now on your name is Despair," She said, giving him a name, one of the things he didn't remember from the stones. The newly named Despair nodded his head, and with that, Dante left the room, after telling him that he was permitted to look around the house. Despair stayed in the room for a few more minuets, wondering what had happened to the other person, he never got his name. He looked over to the window he had opened for him, and decided to look out it for a wile. From out the window he could see the person sitting outside under a tree, he decided to just leave him be for the moment, he looked like he needed it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After Ed had gotten the automail he barely talked to anyone. Before he attempted the human transmutation, he had trained with a alchemy teacher over that time, he had started to look at his fathers alchemic notes and things. He left after 5 months of rest and training his alto mail, it was originally supposed to be a year, and no one saw him for about two years.

"You _what!?!?!?_" Winry screamed at Ed, she hadn't heard from him for over two years, and when he finally came home, she found out that Ed looked at her, slightly frightened.

"Look Winry, you don't understand, I had to, it was my only chose, I don't like it as much as you don't, but it's the only way I can find-" Ed tried to explain, but was cut off.

"Can find what Ed? How in the world is becoming a state alchemist going to help you find Al's killer, and even if it did, what would you do once you found him?" Winry screamed, near tears. Ed stood there, thinking for a moment.

"I'd find out why he wanted to kill us, and why someone who he was working for wanted us alive, you got to understand Winry, it's the only way I can even bare living like this, I have to find out who hated us enough to kill us, it's the only way," Ed explained. Winry just stood there crying. Ed sighed, "Some on Winry, don't cry, as soon as I found out who killed Al, I'm quitting the military, ok?" Ed tried to calm her down, but it wasn't working. Ed pulled her into a hug, he hated seeing Winry sad like this.

"Fine," Winry said after a wile. Ed was surprised that she had talked, and pulled away from her so her could hear her better. "You go look for Al's killer, just don't get hurt, and make sure you find him too, got it," Winry ordered, making Ed smile.

"Alright Winry, I'll try to not get hurt, and I will find that person, I promise" Ed told her, glad she understood he would not give up till he found the person who kill his brother.

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Despair had been at this place for a wile now. After the first day he had been going all over the house, not excitedly or happily, just wanting to know about where he was. He had run into two other people, Lust and Gluttony, he later learned. It turned out that there were more people like them, there was a Pride, and a Greed (who had been sealed away about 200 years earlier, needless to say, Despair didn't see him much) but the only one that really interested him was the one, Envy. He would fallow him around all day, not really saying anything. He just liked being near him, but at the same time, he was scared of him, that of which he had no idea why, maybe because he would beat on him sometimes, but only when Dante had wanted Despair to train. It went on like this for awhile, just hanging around Envy.

"Envy," Despair had said out of the blue one day. He and Envy had been sitting in the library. It had been silent for well over an hour, neither of them were the talkative type, and Envy had jumped out of his chair when he heard his name, but sat back down when he realized what was going on.

"What?" Envy asked, annoyed he was surprised, and wondered why he let this kid hang around him all day. Despair, who was sitting by a window, stared up at the sky, not looking at Envy, he did that a lot.

"Did homunculus ever have families?" He asked, making Envy wished he never asked. Finally, Envy sighed.

"Why would you care about something like that?" Envy asked, hoping he wouldn't have to answer the first question. Despair stayed quiet for a wile. Envy could tell when he was thinking, cause he would stare out the window. Envy realized he should have been expecting a question, he had been looking out that window for almost an hour.

"I don't know, I just remember people, I think they were important to me, did you ever have a family?" He asked Envy, who simply sneered.

"Homunculus don't have families, the things you remember are from the person you were supposed to be, don't think about it" Envy said sharply, turning away from the boy. They sat in silence for a wile. Despair had one more question, but he knew he had to let Envy cool off before he asked him anything more. After a wile, Despair decided it was safe to talk.

"Do you remember the person you were supposed to be?" He asked finally. Envy turned his head away swiftly.

"No" He said sharply. Despair decided that it was best if he didn't ask any more questions today. Envy left the room about a minute later, Despair watched him walk out. He walked over to the book Envy had been reading, it greatly confused him as to why Envy would always read books on alchemy, when he could not do it himself. Despair shrugged it off and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ed had been searching for over 2 years now. So far he had only found false starts and dead ends about the palm tree like killer. Although the deeper he searched, the more he realized there was more to this then a simple crazed cross dresser.

"Damn it, how can it be the same person from fifty years ago?" Ed asked himself, staring at the old picture he had just found, it dated over fifty years ago, but the person was defiantly the same guy who killed Al. In his research, the age of this guy kept getting pushed farther and farther back, Ed could barely believe it. "It's like the guy doesn't age" There was one document that suggested this guy was over a hundred, but when Ed had first found the papers, he dismissed them as impossible, but now he wasn't so sure.

"If what all this says is true, then this psychopath hasn't aged at all in over fifty years, what the hell is he?" Ed said, clutching at his hair. All this was too much, he knew that he had to keep searching, it wasn't even all for revenge anymore, there was more to it then that, whatever he had unluckily stumbled apon , was far bigger then he originally thought, and far more dangerous.

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Time almost didn't seem to exist in the mansion. Things went on day after day as they normally did. Sometimes Envy or Lust and Gluttony (Lust and Gluttony always left together) or all three would leave for a long time, leaving Despair all alone. Although recently Envy had been taking him out from time to time, teaching him what they did. Despair caught on fairly quickly, but he still didn't go on many outings as the others.

Envy had been gone for about a week now. Despair only bothered to keep track of time, to see just how long the others had been gone, and that it wasn't really as long as it seemed. Despair had asked to come along, but Envy said it was a very important mission, and they couldn't afford to mess it up. Despair simply nodded and let him leave.

Despair had been picking up the unusual hobby of reading alchemy books like Envy. "I know I can't do it" He had told Lust one evening when she walked into the library and found him with his nose in one of Masters many alchemy books, "But it gives me a familiar feeling when I read them, I like it" She had simply nodded and walked out of the room, seeming satisfied.

Despair heard the big door to the house open. Putting down the hardback half handwritten book on alchemy he had found, he went to see Envy. He knew it must have been him, no one else had been away, and he hasn't heard of anyone having to leave. Coming into the front room, he was slightly taken back, something he hadn't been since the first few days here, and when he was first allowed into town. Instead of seeing Envy there, he saw a boy, about his age, with long black hair, wild purple eyes, he wore the same style of cloth as everyone else that lived there. His skin was pale, most of there's were, but Despair noticed his one arm and leg were a darker shade of skin then the rest of his body. He also had a scar on his one arm, the darker one, Despair noticed. The boy turned towards him and studied him up and down. Despair was so focused on the unexpected guest, that he didn't notice Envy come into the room until he said his name.

"Despair," Envy said, making him literally jump. His head jerked towards Envy the second his feet touched ground again. Seeing Despair so jumpy made Envy chuckle a little. "Despair, this is Wrath, the new homunculus," Envy said, seeing Despair visibly relax as his confusion melted away. "Told ya it was an important mission," Envy smirked, he liked being around the kid, but he wasn't about to let anyone know that of course. "Show him around, you guys are around the same age right? Well anyway, just don't bother me, and he's already met master, so you don't have to worry about any of that stuff," Envy said, walking away. Despair nodded, he knew that 'don't bother me' he meant 'See ya later' Envy was weird like that, but Despair could see what he really meant.

"Come" Despair said quietly, motioning for Wrath to follow. They walked around the house for a wile, Despair showing Wrath all the important rooms. Wrath looked over at Despair, quite bored.

"Is there anything fun around here?" He asked, looking like a kid forced to sit though a collage seminar. Despair, turned towards him, this was the first time he had really talked.

"Well, there's a library," Despair tried, but that idea was quickly shot down.

"No, I mean something _fun,_ a library isn't fun, isn't there anything here to play with?" Wrath asked, turning his attention from the old glass vase to his tour guide. Wrath's question made Despair think, he never really played, he mostly just read and silently followed Envy, and when he wasn't doing that, he was out on a mission, or doing nothing. Despair looked down at his feet.

"I, I don't think I ever played before," Despair said quietly, making Wrath look at him funny.

"Really? I didn't know someone could of never played before, weird" Wrath said, making Despair feel like a weirdo. Wrath smirked, and grabbed Despairs wrist. Despair was quite shocked by his sudden action. "Come on, were gonna go play!" Wrath said happily, pulling Despair along. Despair could only blink and say.

"O-ok" Despair wasn't sure if having this new homunculus around was a good or bad thing. He decided that playing couldn't be a bad thing, and aloud Wrath to pull him further away.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Wrath was strange. Despair couldn't figure out why he was so loud all the time. He was either loud happy, or loud mad. He has been loud sad once, but Despair wasn't told why. There was another thing strange about Wrath, he could do alchemy. Despair found it amazing, he had been interested in the stuff for a wile now, even though he knew he could never do it himself. He had expected Envy to be interested too, because Despair always saw him reading the books on alchemy, which really was what made Despair read them in the first place too, but Envy did not seem interested in Wrath at all, he actually seemed to not want him around, often pushing them both away, calling them annoying brats. Despair knew that Envy did not mean everything he said though, because when Despair would come up alone, they were exactly like they used to be, which really, Despair had no idea that was. He and Envy were in the library, Despair had lost interest in his book a wile ago, and decided to ask Envy something.

"Envy?" Despair said quietly, causing Envy to look up. He could tell that Despair had a question, closing his book, he turned towards the young homunculus. "Why do you read about Alchemy?" He asked. It felt stupid, because he did too, but he wanted to know.

"So do you," Envy said simply. Despair knew he would of gotten a response like that. He turned away from the window, and looked straight at Envy.

"I know, but, when I read about it, it's almost like I'm just remembering half the stuff, and it just feels right, why do you read about it, even though you can't do it, could you when you were human?" He asked quickly, all in one breath. Envy couldn't help but burst out laughing. Despair seem confused and for a second Envy forgot that he was asked a question. Despair just waited till he calmed down before asking again. "Why do you like alchemy?" Envy sighed and looked over at Despair. Envy suddenly looked tiered.

"I don't," He said, picking his book back up. Despair just stared dumbfounded. It took him a wile before he was able to say anything.

"But, but, if you don't like it, then why are you always reading about it? Why?" Despair just didn't understand, he didn't understand a lot of things recently, Wrath, Envy, more memories kept coming back, he hated it.

"Because, I have to," Envy said, not looking up from his book. Despair opened his mouth, about to protest, but Envy cut him off. "I have to Despair, you wouldn't understand, I just have to," Envy said, turning to the next page in his book.

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Ed sighed. He had just gotten out of a meeting with his boss, man he hated that guy. Cornel Mustard or something, He had just given the basterd a report, was ridiculed, and now was sent down south to do some inspection or something, he didn't care. He sat on the train, still grumpy about the meeting with Cornel Mustard, as Ed called him, when the door banged open.. Ed looked up to see who exactly busted in, but wish he didn't. "T-teacher?" Ed asked, shocked to see the woman, although he didn't get to say much before he was bounded by ropes, and forced to sit back down.

Ed sighed, this was great, just great, his teacher must of somehow figured out he joined the state. She always told him about how much she hated the military, and what did her sole student do? Join the military. Ed looked over at her. "Teacher…" Ed started, but wasn't sure what he wanted to say in the first place.

"Why?" She asked, face stern. Ed looked up at her, confused. "Why you idiot! What made you become a military dog? Your smarter then to be tempted by promises of wealth and glory!" His teacher, Izumi, yelled. Ed just sat there, slightly confused about being called an idiot and smart at the same time. Ed cased his eyes downward, he knew she wouldn't ever approve of anything he was trying to do or had done. Izumi sighed. "Also, what happened to your limbs boy? They send you off to war already?" Izumi asked. At first Ed got very tense, then realized, she couldn't tell they were from the human transmutation, at least that was a start. He looked up at her, and then regretted it, she knew, of course she did, she could always tell what was going on with him.

"I'm sorry, I just, I needed him back, I needed him," Ed said softly, knowing if he lied he would only get hurt worse. They didn't say anything else for the rest of the trip. Ed had a feeling they were going , back to Izumi's home, where he had trained. Ed was right, they got off at Dubluth. Ed followed as Izumi led him up to a hill and proceeded to beat the life out of him. After she was done she softly hugged him, startling Ed.

"I understand," She said softly, although Ed didn't realized just how much she understood.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The first time it happened, Despair had been terrified. He was terrified every time, but the first was defiantly the worst. He had been asleep, homunculus didn't need it, but he slept anyway, it got boring during the night. Well, he had been asleep, he seldom had dream, most of the homunculus didn't. He guess it started out as a dream, he had been at the side of a bed, a woman lay in it, next to him, the boy who he identified as his brother, well, not his brother, the person he was meant to be brother. She said, something, he couldn't hear her, suddenly it changed, they were at a river, Envy was there, and things started going over a mile a minute. Envy tried to kill his brother, not his brother, the person's brother. He got it the way, he died. Envy, Envy killed him.

He woke up in a cold sweat. He didn't even know homunculus could sweat. Before he knew what he was doing,, he started bawling and just ran out of the room. He ran down the hallway. Suddenly, Wrath was in front of him, he must of heard him from his room, he just grabbed Despairs arm and hissed. "What are you doing, if you don't shut up we're both gonna get in trouble," Despair thought it was weird that the loudest person here was telling him to shut up. Wrath pulled him into his room. Once inside, he let go of despairs arm, he had stopped crying, and wrath sat down on his bed.

"What's wrong?" Wrath asked. Suddenly, the memory of his nightmare flooded back to him, it was too much, he started crying again. "Hey, come on, tell me, what ever it was, couldn't be that bad," Wrath said, trying to calm him down. Despair sniffled, he was then able to start talking a little.

"Envy, Envy, he killed me…." He said, looking like he was about to cry again. Wrath sighed.

"Is that all? He's killed me before, and I haven't even been here that long, it's fine, you probably just got on his nerves a little, an your still alive, as long as you eat the red stones, you will be," Wrath said casually, having 'got on Envy's nerves a little' many times. Despair looked over at Wrath, his eyes starting to water again.

"No, he, he KILLED me, he's….He's the reason I'm a homunculus, he's, he's how I…I died" Despair said, starting to cry again. Wrath sat there, awe struck. He never imagined anything like that. Wrath tried to comfort him. After a wile, Despair looked up at wrath. "Please don't tell him I know, I like hanging around him, I don't know what will happen if he finds out I remembered," Despair asked softly. Wrath smiled warmly.

"Sure 'Spair, I wont tell. If ya ever need me for anything else, ya know where my room is" Wrath said. Despair nodded and went back to his room. He decided at even though Wrath may be a little strange, he was still a good friend. Despair had had the same dream every once and a wile since then. Every time, he would go to Wrath's room till he calmed down enough to go back to bed.

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When Izumi and Ed had gotten back to Izumi's house, Ed has shocked to find out that his teacher had done exactly what he did, a human transmutation. Ed's first question was.

"On who?" He didn't mean to be nosey, he just wanted to know, he doubted it would have been one of her parents, unless it was a wile ago, her husband was alive and she had no sibling that Ed ever knew of.

"My son," She said calmly. This shocked Ed, he had no idea Izumi had children, and he lived with her for quite some time.

"Your? You had children?" Ed asked. Izumi sighed.

"Not quite, only one, but he died during birth, if he had lived he would have been around eleven now," Izumi explained. Ed's confusion slowly went away as she explained. Izumi looked over at Ed. "You still haven't told me why you joined the military Edward," Izumi said, causing Ed to look down again.

"I need to find him, the person who killed Al, I know that I shouldn't live for revenge, but I don't think I can stop now, there's something going on with them that's huge, and I need to stop them from whatever they're doing," Ed explained, growing more confident as he did. Izumi sighed.

"Alright Ed, just be careful," She said, causing Ed's head to jerk towards her. He had not expected her to encourage him so quickly.

"You mean it teacher?" Ed asked, still in shock, he expected for her to blow his head off once she found out why he joined the military was for revenge.

"Yes, just don't to anything too foolish or idiotic," She said, getting up. Ed smiled. He could barely stop from laughing, Izumi had always almost been like a second mother to him, a much stricter, stronger mother, but she still had helped Ed though one of the most difficult times in his life.

"Alright, I'll try not to be an idiot anymore," He said, getting up also. Izumi smiled softly at him, until her face suddenly went dark. Ed noticed almost immediately.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Her faced calmed and she smiled.

"Nothing, I'm fine" She lied, she didn't want to tell him about what the transmutation must of made, he had been though too much already. Ed eyed her suspiciously.

"Alright, whatever you say," Ed said, not so convinced, but decided to drop it. Ed looked out the window, it was getting late. "I should be leaving tomorrow, thank you" Ed said, Izumi nodded.

"You know where the spare room is," Izumi said, leaving the room. Ed nodded. At least I don't have to worry about teacher finding me and beating the crap out of me anymore, Ed thought, chuckling slightly.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Ed left the next morning. Izumi told him of a suspicious town not too far off, so he decided he would head there.

"There is a rumor, of a group of people in a desert city, Loir I think was it's name, well, they can not be killed apparently, I'm not sure if that will be of any help to you but I thought I'd let you know about it," Izumi had said to him. He decided that can-not-be-killed is pretty close to dose-not-age so he started toward Loir to check it out.

"God, the dessert is hot!" Ed said, nearly collapsing. "Man, I want a drink," Ed said, taking another step forward. After a long agonizing walk though the desert, Ed finally reached the town he had been searching for. "Finally!" Ed said. He went up to a shop and got a drink the second he saw one.

"So kid, what you come all the way out here for?" The shop keeper asked. Ed drank up the rest of his water and answered.

"I heard about a rumor of people who can not die in this town, so I decided to check it out myself, You know anything about it?" Ed asked. The store keeper polished a glass as he thought.

"Can't die huh, no, don't think I've heard about that, well, there was the three strange people that came through this town not to long ago, six people were killed when they were here, when we went to go find um, they were gone," The shop keeper explained.

"You know what they looked like?" Ed asked, only half interested, this just seemed like some random group of murderers, nothing he was after. The shop keeper put the glass down, and picked up another.

"Hm, I think they ate here once, before the killings that is, lets see, there was a real pretty lady, with long black hair, a short fat man, and the third sure was a strange one, skinny, black clothes, well they all wore black, but he had long stringy green hair and a headband, they all had purple eyes too," Ed's head shot up.

Where are they!?" Ed yelled, sitting up. The shop keeper was taken back.

"Like I said kid, we don't know where they went," He said.

"Come on, do you at least have an idea as to what direction they might of went, when they were last seen? You have to know something!" Ed yelled. This was his first real lead in a long time, he needed to find them.

"Well, it's believed they might of headed north, they were last seen about a mile north of here," the shop keeper said, pointing north. Ed got up and started running in the way he pointed.

"Thanks!" He called back. The shop keeper stood, dumbfounded.

"What a weird kid," He said, putting down another cup.

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Despair still hung around Envy, despite what he remembered. Dante decided that Despair and Wrath would be parented together for most missions. One day, Despair and Wrath got back from a not-too-interesting-mission. Despair decided he would go see what Envy was doing.

"Envy?" Despair asked, walking slowly into Envy's room. Envy wasn't in there. "Huh, Envy? You here?" Despair asked in the empty room. He had never been in Envy's room without Envy. He went farther in. "Envy probably wouldn't like it if I was in here without his permission," He said, now over by Envy's bed. He walked over to the closet, he never saw what was in there before. Opening the door, he was slightly surprised to see a huge walk in closet, I mean, he only had like, one outfit right? "I'm sure he wouldn't mind," He said, walking in. He saw a small door, well, more like dresser door, in the wall. Walking over he opened it. Inside were a few papers, a pocket watch, a book and a photo. He took the photo and the pocket watch out.

The photo was of Envy, a few years younger, smiling, showing off the pocket watch. Hugging Envy around the neck was a girl who looked around Despairs age, and a guy with gray hair was behind envy. Despair looked at the watch, on it, was a design Despair had seen before, it was one of the pocket watches they gave to state alchemist, why in the world did Envy have one? Despair thought. Despair heard the door open, he quickly put the pocket watch and picture into him pocket and closed the door. He looked out of the closet door and Envy saw him, who was mildly confused.

"Get out of my closet," Envy said after staring at him for a minute. Despair walked out shyly, head down. "What were you doing in there anyway?" Envy asked, slightly confused. Despair looked up, he had expected Envy to be mad.

"Your not mad?" Despair asked, forgetting Envy had asked him something seconds before. Envy blinked, not really sure what to say, he _wasn't _mad, which was strange, he should be.

"No, just don't come in here again unless I'm here, got it?" Envy said, still confused as to why he wasn't pissed at Despair. He was never pissed at Despair, he realized. Despair nodded, and turned to leave. "Wait, why were you in there in the first place?" Envy asked again, Despair stopped, and turned back around, he realized he had no clue as to why he went into the closet.

"I don't know, I just wanted to see what was in there," He said. Envy looked at him.

"What did you expected, a shoe collection?" Envy asked. Despair thought for a second before nodding and saying.

"Yes," Envy's head snapped towards Despair. Despair laughed and ran out the door. Envy blinked and then got up, starting to chase him.

"Hey, get back here, your learning way too much from Wrath!" Envy called, following Despair around the corner, before stopping abruptly, hearing a loud crash. Envy sighed. "You broke the vase, didn't you?" He asked. Despair nodded, and Envy sighed, of course, it was Dante's favorite one too.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ed slowly slid to a walk. He looked around, realizing that there was no way that he was going to just spot them in the crowd, there had killed people here, so if someone saw them, then they would be in jail. Or another person would just get killed, Ed thought. It was getting late in the day, so Ed decided that he would put his search on hold until tomorrow. He checked into a hotel and tried to sleep, but could not squeeze in a wink. His mind was racing, he was so close, he might actually be to find them and get the answers to all his questions.

After a wile, he started to let his mind wonder. Slowly his mind turned to things like Al, his mother, places he had been, his idiot of a boss, and the way his teacher looked at him right before he left. It was the same dark look she had in the room. He knew she must of knew something about all this, but he didn't press at her. He knew that if she wanted him to know something, she would tell him, she was his teacher after all. Ed lazily rolled over, he guessed it was about three. He looked up to the window. Ed's eyes widened and he sprang upright at what he saw. There was a man, with long stringy green hair, smiling insanely wile sitting on a tree branch outside his window. "Hello, Full metal pipsqueak."

"Envy!" Ed called, jumping towards the window. Envy blinked.

"My, my, how did you learn my name Full metal?" Envy asked smoothly. Ed growled, Envy smirked.

"What the hell are you!?" Ed demanded. Envy smiled as he twilled a piece of his hair around a finger.

"So, you've been able to figer out my name, and that I'm not so normal, anything else?" Envy asked, letting go of the hair.

"That lady's name is Lust, and you've been in contact with a bald fat man, and you can't age, that good enough for you?" Ed said, glaring daggers, if looks could kill, Envy would of fell out of the tree, but would of survived, because he's a homunculus.

"So, you've really spent all this time looking for me for revenge?" Envy asked casually. It sickened Ed.

"Of course! You killed my brother, what else was I supposed to do?!" Ed yelled. Envy smile, exactly the topic he wanted, his brother.

"What if I told you your dear little brother wasn't dead, well, not entirely that is," Envy said, blowing at his nails like a girl dose when she paints them. Ed visibly twitched when he heard what Envy said. He's lying, he has to be, Ed thought.

"Your lying, I saw you kill him, I saw him die!" Ed yelled, just about ready to jump out the window.

"Ah, you are right Full metal, boy you ARE smart," Envy said sarcastically. Ed clenched his teeth, causing Envy to smile again. "Remember that little human transmutation you happened to do?" Envy asked. Ed's brain just stopped in it's tracks for a minute.

"But, that, it didn't work, it, it did make something, but that thing wasn't Al, it couldn't be," Ed said, trying to convince himself more then Envy.

"Oh, so you did see it, well yes, that thing you had seen probably couldn't of passed for your brother no matter what you did," Envy's eyes turned and looked straight at Ed's for the first time in this conversation. Ed stiffed, "but, if he was given the right things, and been able to grow," Envy smiled.

"No! No, it couldn't be, are you saving Al's alive?! That's impossible!" Ed yelled, not able to believe his brother could actually be back.

"He remembers you a little, nothing too big, he knows you were his brother, nothing more, he's a strange one," Envy said, shaking his head a little.

"Why, why are you telling me this?" Ed asked quietly, Envy could barely hear him.

"Think of it as a mutual bond between everyone who had the skills to pass that state alchemist exam," He said. Ed stood in shock, not even bothering to follow as Envy got off the tree branch and jump/walked away.

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Despair hadn't been able to sleep that night. He had decided to go see if Envy was up, he usually was. Despair opened the door to his room and saw Envy was no where to be seen. Despair, remembering the other time he had come into the room when Envy wasn't in quickly shut the door and went back to his room. Despair walked over to his bead and kneeled down. He then lifted up the mattress slightly, taking out the pocket watch and photo he had swapped from Envy's room that day. He hadn't been able to figer out where Envy got them or why he had them.

The photo obviously had to of been Envy's, he was in it, but the pocket watch. Only certified alchemist of the state could have one of them, so why did Envy own one? No matter how hard Despair tried he couldn't figer it out, if Envy had wanted to make himself look like a state alchemist, he would just shape-shift, and he would have everything, pocket watch included, and It would go away when he changed back. If it belonged to someone else, then who? Despair fiddled around with the pocket watch for about an hour, when he heard the main door open. Quickly, he shoved the objects back under his mattress and went to go see who was there. It was Envy. Despair ran over to him.

Envy was slightly surprised to see Despair up so early. "Hey kid, what you up this late for?" Envy asked. Despair shrugged slightly.

"I donno, I just couldn't sleep," Despair said quietly. "Where were you?" Despair asked. Envy smiled.

"Just out on some stupid chore for Dante, not really anything important," Envy lied. Despair seemed to take that as the truth because he didn't ask anymore questions about it. Despair looked up at Envy.

"Envy, could you do alchemy when you were alive?" Despair asked innocently. Envy was slightly taken back, that was something he didn't expect. It usually takes hours for Despair to ask a question, maybe that's why he was up so late.

"Why do you want to know that?" Envy asked. Despair had realized a wile ago that when he asked Envy a question, the first answer was usually another question.

"You always read alchemy books, I just want to know," Despair said, not about to let him know about what he took from his room.

"I could do a little, nothing big though, well, not that I can remember anyway, could you?" Envy said. Despair was kind of shocked that Envy had answered his question. Despair then thought to remember if he could do alchemy wile he had been human.

"Yes, I practiced with my big brother, he was better then me, but we were both still exceptional, especially for our ages," Despair said, looking down in concentration. Envy laughed.

"You remember a lot for being so young, don't you?" Envy asked. Despair nodded shyly, a little embarrassed. Envy chuckled slightly. "Come on, it's late, you should at least get some sleep," Envy said. Despair nodded and followed Envy up the stairs.

"Envy?" Despair asked, about halfway to his room. Envy looked back at him.

"Hm?" Envy said. Despair wasn't quite sure what he wanted to ask Envy, or how to ask it. He stopped and looked down. Envy stopped and looked back at him. "What is it kid?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Despair asked. Envy smiled softly.

"Not tonight kid, besides it's almost morning anyway, so I doubt you would need any help sleeping, maybe some other time," Envy said, walking Despair into his room.

"Oh, alright, thanks anyway," Despair said softly. Envy nodded.

"Night kid," he said, closing the door. He may have been close to the kid, but there was no way he would risk another homunculus seeing him acting like a brother to him. No, not a brother, there's no way I could ever be like that, not after everything… Envy's thought died away, not wanting to remember everything but knowing he eventually had to or else he would really lose his mind completely like many thought he had done so many years ago.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Despair felt the sun slowly warm his cold skin. Opening his eyes, he rolled over, to look at his clock, It read 3:24. Despair slowly pushed himself up. He knew he should of probably just not slept last night, or else he would of woke up late like this, but he didn't care. He yawned, and tried to remember what he had done last night. It slowly all came back to him. He sighed softly, and got off the bed.

"Despair!" Wrath yelled, running into the room, only causing Despair to fall back onto his bed. "Despair!" Wrath yelled again. Despair just stared at him.

"What is it Wrath?" Despair asked finally. Wrath smiled.

"Master said we can go play in town today, so wake up!" Wrath yelled the last part. Despair just sat there, letting the information set in, he was still a little drowsy.

"Alright, I'll be down in a second, you go wait for me ok?" Despair said. Wrath nodded and ran out of the room. Despair slowly got up and followed at a casual rate. Once he got to the front room he saw Wrath bouncing in front of the door. Despair smiled. "Ready to go?" He asked his hyperactive friend.

"Of course, you're the one that's taking forever!" Wrath said, running out the door. Despair followed calmly. Once they were out of the forest Despair sped up a little to get next to Wrath.

"Ok Wrath, I want you to be careful, ok? Stay by me," Despair said, looking around at the crowds of people. Wrath nodded eagerly. He then grabbed Despairs wrist.

"Come on, lets go!" He said, pulling Despair in a random direction. After a wile Wrath stopped running and they started looking around at all the stores. Wrath had gotten 20 dollars from Sloth before they left, so they decided they would go and buy themselves some food or toys or whatever striked there fancy. Wrath's eyes brightened when he saw a candy shop.

"Lets go in there!" Wrath yelled, pulling Despair along. Despair sighed.

"Wrath, I'm not so sure you need any more sugar," Despair said quietly, but followed obediently. After spending about half the money on candy (Despair likes the candies too ya know) they moved on down the street. Window shopping and playing around. They slowly ventured from the main street and into parts they had not been to before. "Wrath, you sure you know how to get back from here?" Despair asked, looking around at the old buildings and run down bars. He didn't feel safe here.

"Umm, what if I don't?" Wrath asked. He also seemed scared. Despair looked at Wrath, who nervously glanced over his shoulder. Despair gulped, he did not like this one bit.

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"Finally," The man said. He knew that the seal couldn't hold him forever. After finally getting out of that damn seal, he headed down deeper into the lab, he found a few loyal followers and decided he would have to lay a little low for a wile. He decided to go stay at a run down bar, The Devils Nest, it was called. One day he was just sitting in the front room with his companions when one if then turned to him.

"Hey boss," Dorshette said, a dog chimera that had once worked in the military like the rest of his followers.

"What is it?" Greed asked, the 'boss' of the grope, he was a homunculus, but turned on the rest of them long ago for his own gain.

"There's a couple of kids outside, one of um got's the same mark as you do, except on his arm," Greed got up and looked out the window, and indeed there was. The two young boys looked lost and a little scared. Greed's eyes went directly to the oroborus on the blonds upper right arm.

"Well well, this is interesting," Greed said. A woman stepped out of the shadows, she had short blond hair and a large tattoo on her shoulder.

"Want us to get them for you Boss?" She asked, her voice had a slight hiss like undertone, like the snake she was transmuted with.

"Nah Marta, let me get um, there homunculus like me ya know, they might listen if they get to talk to someone like them," Greed said, walking towards the door.

"There both homunculus?" A large man asked.

"Ya Law, I'm pretty sure they are," Greed said, and walked out of the Devil's Nest.

Despairs head snapped towards the door to the building. A tall man with sunglasses came out of it. He wore a furry jacket and leather. Despair lightly pulled on Wrath's arm and he too turned and saw the man. Despair didn't like this man, there was something not right about him. Wrath took a small step closer to Despair.

"Hey there kids, what you doin in this part of town," Greed asked, taking a step towards them, both instinctly stepped back. That's when Despair saw the oroborus on the mans hand. He clasped his hand on top of his own oroborus. Wrath noticed Despairs sudden movement.

"Despair?" Wrath asked quietly. Despair looked straight at Greed's hand.

"Wrath, he's a homunculus," Despair whispered. Wrath jumped away in shock.. "The oroborus is on his hand, look for yourself," Despair said louder now. Wrath's eyes went straight towards his hand and he saw what Despair had been talking about.

"So you two are homunculus, I take it your with Envy and there group?" Greed asked. Despair nodded slightly.

"How do you know them?" Wrath asked, taking a step forward. Greed smiled, showing off all his large shark-like teeth.

"Oh me and Envy go way back," Greed said. Despairs eyes widened.

"Did you know Envy when he was human?" Despair asked before he could think about it. Wrath looked at him, wondering where in the world that had come from. Greed also seemed a little taken back by his sudden outburst.

"Oh, I didn't know him personally, but everyone had heard of him," Greed said. Despair was about to ask something else when Wrath jabbed him. "Why don't you two come in, your lost aren't you, and were all freaks here, so no need to worry," Greed said, walking closer. Despair and Wrath could both tell they really had no choose, if they tried to leave, they would be attacked. Despair nodded and they followed Greed into the Devil's Nest.

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Ed stood in the same spot for over an hour after Envy left. Eventually his legs gave out and he sat in front of the window. He fell asleep in front of the window. He had woken at around 12 and ran out of the hotel. He had to get to central and ask cornel mustard some questions. He managed to leave the town and safely cross the desert again, it was quicker going the opposite direction in with he had came, it was also quicker to Central that way. Once in Central Ed headed straight for HQ. He usually avoided that place and his boss like the plague, but this was way too important, he needed some answers from that basterd now.

The entire way to central the words spoken by that maniac kept ringing in his head over and over again. "Think of it as a mutual bond between everyone who had the skills to pass that state alchemist exam," Ed couldn't believe it. That-that monster had been a state alchemist. That damn Cornel had to know about this, he had to.

Cornel Mustang lifted his head from the piles of unsigned papers. Edward Elric, youngest state alchemist ever, hero of the east, had just busted into his office. "Edward, what are you doing here?" He would usually make some witty comment, but his sudden entrance, not even knowing he was in Central, he was quite shocked.

"Did you know?" Ed asked bitterly. Mustang just stared in confusion, did he know what? "Well, Did you?!" Ed yelled.

"Edward, please be more specific, I have no idea what your talking about," Mustang said calmly, although he did have an idea on what this was about, if Ed was this upset, then it must have something to do with the people he's been searching for.

"The person, who killed Al, you know what he looks like, I've shown him to you," Ed started, Roy nodded, when he first told him of his plan he had drawn a few pictures of him and his comrade and described him, so he had a fairly good idea. "Then did you know, that that basterd was a state alchemist!?" Ed yelled, nearly causing Roy to flinch.

"What do you mean?" Mustang managed to ask.

"Exactly what it sounds like, the basterd told me himself!" Ed yelled. Roy wasn't sure what to do, if the guy was in the state, then did that mean he was still in active duty?

"When did he tell you?" Roy asked. Truthfully, he did not think Ed was going to be able to find them, but if they told him, he must have.

"A few days ago, In Loir, the desert city, well, I saw him at night, he told me some…things, and I asked him why and he said something about the mutual bonds between state alchemist," Ed explained. Roy nodded.

"What are you going to do now Full metal?" Roy asked. Ed sat on a small couch off to the side.

"Go to the first branch in central library, they should have some records on him if he was a state alchemist, and I never looked for him in that section, only in the section for criminals, so ya, I should find something," Ed said. Roy nodded again, understanding. Ed yawned. "God, I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," Ed said lying down, completely exhausted from the mental and physical stress he had gone threw in the passed few days. Roy could only stare, baffled.

"You-you can't sleep there!" Roy said. Ed simply rolled away from him.

"If you want me to move your gonna have to make me," Ed said simply. Roy just sighed and mumbled something about what a little brat Ed was, and Ed would of shot up and yelled at Roy had he not already of fallen asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Despair made sure to stay as close as he could to Wrath when they entered the bar. He already had an idea on who this homunculus was and if it was him, then this was not good at all. Truthfully, Wrath seemed more confused then anything.

"Despair, what's going on?" Wrath whispered into his ear. Despair shushed him as Greed shut the door behind them. Despair and Wrath looked over the run down bar, seeing three other people in there with them. There was defiantly something different about them too, but they couldn't quite put there fingers on it. "Spair, are they homunculus too?" Wrath whispered into Despairs ear again.

"No Wrath, I don't think so," Despair whispered back. The only woman there stepped forward.

"So Greed, they are homunculus like you?" Marta asked. Despair mentally flinched. So it is Greed, this is bad, very bad, Despair thought. Wrath leaned into Despair again.

"Who's Greed?" He asked, but didn't get an answer, as Despair motioned for him to shush again.

"Yep, first children homunculus I've met though, so this should be interesting," Greed said. "Hey Law, think ya can show um to a room, and make sure they stay there, K big guy," Greed said. Despair and Wrath looked at each other, both thinking one thing, 'who is Law?' There answer was a large hand on both of there shoulders. Wrath gulped and Despair shuddered slightly under the huge hand. They were led into a room, and Law sat by the door, making sure they weren't going anywhere.

Despair and Wrath sat on the other side of the room whispering to each other. Although neither would say it they were both terrified. If either would have been alone they both would of most likely of broken down by now. Late in the night the woman came into the room. She said a few things to Law and he left as she sat down. Wrath had fallen asleep by now, using Despair's shoulder as his pillow. Despair couldn't sleep, he was too scared. He kept himself entertained by looking around the room, but it was hard doing so and not disturbing Wrath. That was when he noticed the 'tattoo' on his captives arm.

"Alchemy," He whispered softly. Marta's head shot up. She had nearly fallen asleep. She looked over at the two little prisoners.

"What you say kid?" She asked. Despair almost froze, not expecting her to talk.

"Um, the tattoo, on your shoulder, it's alchemy, isn't it?" He asked. Marta looked at him funny.

"You're a homunculus, how would you know what's alchemy and what's not?" She asked. Despair looked down slightly, but still made sure to not awake his companion.

"I've read a little about it," He said shyly. Marta nodded.

"Ya, it's alchemy," She said. Despair nodded ever so slightly, still mindful of Wrath. Despair did not say anything else for the rest of the night. Slowly his eye lids began to droop and not long at all after that he had fallen completely asleep.

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Envy was pissed off. Even more then usual. He couldn't find Despair or even Wrath anywhere. He heard they had gone off to town, but should have been back hours ago, but he wasn't about to let anyone know he was worried. No way, Envy only cared about himself, he wasn't worried about what could of happened to the little brats, no way, he liked it better with them gone, ya that's it, better, it was quiet and peaceful and nice and-

"What are you all worried about?" Lust asked, nearly giving Envy a heart attack. He glared at her.

"I'm not worried about anything, I don't know what your talking about!" Envy yelled, getting pretty defensive pretty fast, not a good thing to do when your trying to lie.

"Is it Despair and Wrath being gone so long?" Lust asked. Envy sneered.

"Of course not, why would I care about troughs little brats?" Envy asked, looking away. Lust smiled.

"So it's only Despair your worried about then?" She said. Envy snapped towards her, glaring. "I don't see why your getting so defensive about it, so ya care about the kid, it's cute, Envy's a big bro-" Lust stared, but couldn't finish, Envy cut her head off. Once her head grew back she was furious. "What the hell was that for?!" She yelled, standing up. Envy just sat there.

"I'm not a big brother, got it?" Envy said plainly. Lust glared and started to walk out of the room.

"I still can't tell on any level that you are the oldest," She said on her way out. Envy sighed and got up. He decided to go out into town and look for the two kids, after all, he was worried about them.

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Ed walked to Central library. He walked because, first of all, he wasn't old enough to drive, and two, he liked it. It was a nice breezy sunny day and it was good for walking. Once there he just walked straight on in, when in Central he was almost always there, so they knew he was a state alchemist and not some random kid seeing if he could just mosey on in. He walked over to the files on all the state alchemist, and just began flipping threw them, looking for the one he was after. There were hundredths or files, and he didn't have his real, or state name, all he knew was the name Envy. He looked in E for maybe some chance of that being the real name or even close to his state name, it wasn't apparently.

"It's got to be here somewhere," Ed mumbled. He planned to look throw every single one of the files until he found it, until he got a better plan. "Hey miss?" Ed asked a librarian walking by. She had Brown hair and wore glasses. She was carrying a large stack of books.

"Um, Yes?" She said, putting the books down momentarily.

"Hey, do you have a state alchemist file on a guy with long stringy green hair and purple eyes?" He asked. She fiddled around for a second.

"Well, we are not supposed to look throw the state files you know," She said, twiddling her thumbs. Ed sighed.

"Oh ya, sorry 'bout that," Ed said, turning back to the case.

"Wait" The librarian said. Ed stopped and turned back towards her. "If- if you promise not to tell, and I promise I wont read any more, then I might be able to help you," She said quietly. Ed jumped up and smiled brightly.

"Really? You mean that? Man girl if you got the right file then you're a life saver, what's your name anyway?" Ed said, startling her.

"Um, I'm Shezka, and um, your pretty young to be in the military," She said.

"Oh ya that well I'm a state alchemist, the full metal alchemist, the youngest ever, but enough about that Shezka, do you think you can show me the file?" Ed explained, not even bothered by the fact someone said he looked young, which usually got him pissed.

"Oh yes Mr. Full Metal, it's right in," She began rummaging threw the files, going to the very back, "Here!" She said triumphantly, holding up the folder. She then handed it to Ed, who opened it eminently, face brightening even more then before when he saw the inside.

"This is the best, thanks Shezka, you have no idea how much this helps, here!" He said, taking the file and leaving after quickly handing her a wad of something. Opening it she screamed, only to be hushed by another librarian. All she could do is stutter and point to the large wad of cash in her hand.


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, I gots somthin to say today before the story accually starts. I wont be able to update this or any other storys I start as much as I am now. School is rough this year, and I'm going to be starting my frist part time job pretty soon. I will still try to update this at _least _once a week, if not twice. So ya, I'm not stopping at all, just thought I'd let the readers of my storys whom I love so much know. Ok, thanks, on with the story.

Chapter 12

Despair yawned, opening his eyes slowly. Feeling something warm on his shoulder, he looked over to see Wrath lazily slumped on his shoulder, asleep. Despair just stared at his friend for a second, trying to remember where they were, or what had happened. Suddenly he remembered, and looked over to see a slender man with a sword sitting where the lady had been. They must of switched again, Despair thought. Wrath mumbled something and snuggled up closer to Despair. Despair sighed. He wasn't going to wake Wrath up, but he really wished Wrath would hurry up and get up, he wanted to get out of here, and he couldn't do that alone.

About 15 minutes later Wrath woke up. It took wrath almost 20 seconds to realize where he was and what was going on. When he finally did he looked terrified. Despair tried to calm him down, but it was hard when he himself felt the same way. After a wile, Greed came in.

"You can leave now Dorshette, I'll take care of um," Greed said, Dorshette got up and left. Wrath looked even more scared, Despair had told him what he knew about Greed last night, how he betrayed the homunculus. "So kids, how was your night?" Greed asked. Wrath's fear was now masked by anger, glaring at him. Despair had a completely unreadable face, a face any poker player would kill for. Greed frowned. "Come on, what's wrong with you two, I'm just being friendly," Greed said. Wrath and Despair still said nothing. Greed sighed.

"What do you want with us?" Despair asked suddenly, scarring Greed and Wrath, who both suddenly turned to him. Greed looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled.

"Because, it'll piss off that old lady and all the other bastereds there," Greed said. Wrath stood up. Despair grabbed at him.

"Wrath…" Despair said quietly, able to tell Wrath was about to do something not too smart.

"The only one your pissing off here is me!" Wrath yelled, suddenly lunging towards Greed, arm transformed into a spike from some of the wood floor. Greed smirked, allowing the spike to him in square in the face. Wrath's anger was now replaced back with fear. Despair went towards Wrath.

"I told you what he could do last night, why didn't you listen?!" Despair yelled. Wrath just stood there, Greed smirked again, and punched Wrath in the gut, flinging him backwards into Despair who caught him. "You ok?" Despair asked quietly. Wrath nodded slightly but it was obvious he had had the wind knocked straight out of him. Despair held on to wrath until he was sure he could stand on his own.

"So, I take it your Wrath," Greed said jokingly. Wrath sneered at him. Despair looked over at Wrath, why did he have to be so impulsive, it could really get him into trouble someday.

"What are you going to do with us?" Despair asked, hoping to get there minds off of whatever they were on. Greed smirked.

"What ever you make me do, if you act like him," Greed said, looking over at Wrath, who quickly shot his head away, "Then your in for a world of hurt, but if you two act like good little children, then everything will be fine, understand?" Greed finished. Wrath and Despair just stood there, not knowing what else to do. Greed shrugged and left the room, the large man soon came back in afterwards to make sure they didn't escape.

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Ed sat in his small apartment dorm like thing. He carefully started going threw the papers. The picture was defiantly of the same guy, but Ed was not liking the dates on them. Over two hundred years ago, back when they were first setting up the state alchemist. Ed was amazed that they still had the files on hand. He must have been pretty important, most alchemist from that time's files are probably gone, Ed thought. Ed looked at another paper. His eyes widened when he was it, according to this, he had been killed in an alchemic ascendant involving mercury, after being in the military for two years. Ed sighed.

"Of course it says he died, there not gonna let people know about a 200 year old guy in the military, I wonder if he's still working with the military some how," Ed said to no one. If he didn't think out loud sometimes, then he would go insane from the silence all the time. Ed sighed again and put the papers away, he would look them over some more later, right now he was hungry. He walked out of his room, he was going to go out, he hated the food at the military cafeteria, and avoided it whenever he could.

Ed casually walked down the crowded street. He wasn't really in any hurry, so no need to rush. After a wile of pushing threw crowds of city goers Ed finally made it to the little café he liked. After eating, he started back to his dorm like thing. Once there, Ed was surprised to see his boss outside his door.

"Mustard-stang? What are you doing here?" Ed asked. Roy looked pretty serious. Ed looked around. "Uh, wanna come in instead?" Ed asked, Roy nodded and Ed took out his key, letting them both in.

"Edward, did you find that file you were looking for?" Roy asked. Ed looked confused, why would his boss be interested in that.

"Yeah, I found it, turns out the guys over two hundred apparently," Ed said. Roy nodded. "Why are you interested?" Ed asked, getting straight to the point, he hated beating around the bush, something Roy did far too often, mainly just to mess with Ed's head though.

"Full metal, you do realize how big of a bite you might be taking off here?" Ed asked, startling Ed.

"Nope, all I know is it's most likely way too big for me to handle," Ed said, looking over at Roy, and smirked.

"So I take it I'm not going to be able to stop you from going any further with this Full metal?" Roy asked.

"Of course not, why would I listen to anything you have to say anyway?" Ed said. Roy smirked and nodded.

"I thought you might say something like that," Roy said. Ed turned towards him.

"So, is that the only reason you came here?" Ed asked, Roy nodded. "Then get out of my place, Mustard!" Ed said jokingly. Roy smirked and got up. Looking back at Ed one more time, he left, closing the door behind him. Ed just plopped on his bed. "What the hell was that about?" He asked himself out loud, and heard laughing outside his door, Roy hadn't quite left yet.

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Envy walked all over town, there was no trace of the two youngest homunculus anywhere. Envy was starting to get pissed. In the middle of a still semi-crowded street, Envy stopped and yelled "Damn it! Despair! Wrath! Get out here NOW!" many people turned to look at him, and a few turned away. Envy really didn't care, they were just pathetic humans, why should he care about what they think? stomping on, he continued to search.

Envy looked well into the night, until he decided to check if they had come home maybe. He opened the door to the mansion quietly, hoping no one knew he was out searching for that long. Even if he had been silent, he still would have been seen by lust, who was right in the front room.

"My my, you were sure out a long time looking for them," She said, not really looking at him. Envy growled. "They aren't back yet, if that's what you were wondering," Lust said casually. Envy turned away.

"Ya right, I already told you, I don't care about the little brats," Envy said. Lust smiled.

"So, your not going back out to look for them?" She asked. Envy glared.

"Hell no, like I would give up my beauty sleep for them!" Envy yelled, stomping off to his room. Once there, he slammed the door, and leaned against it, slowly sinking toward the floor. "Damn it, they better be ok, or else they're gonna wish I never find them," Envy said quietly, placing his head in his arms. If he were human, he probably would of cried.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The next day Envy went out again, not telling anyone that he was going out to look for Despair and Wrath again, he just left. He started looking around the slightly less popular parts of town, hoping silently they weren't there, but they being the only parts of town he hadn't been already, knew they were his best bet. "Come on, come on, you two have to be somewhere," Envy mumbled, walking faster, until something stopped him.

"Well well well, Envy, come to get your little friends?" Greed asked. Envy turned towards him.

"Greed," Envy growled. "What the hell did you do to them?!" Envy yelled, trying not to slice his head off just yet.

"Oh relax, the little kids are just fine," Greed said, smirking. Envy was really ready to knock his head off right about now. So, that's what he planned to do, lunging at Greed.

Wrath sat in the room he and Despair were locked in. Despair was sitting in a corner. Even though Wrath was scared, that didn't make him any less bored. He was sitting near the window, so he lazily glanced out. Looking out, he saw something down on the street, looking to see what it was, he had never been more happy to see Envy in his life. Envy was fighting Greed down on the street. Wrath immediately shot up. Despair and Marta (they had switched again) both turned to look at him. Wrath smiled brightly at Despair, who only looked more confused.

"Our ride homes here," Wrath said happily. Despair looked generally befuddled, but then his face brightened, running over to the window, Despair got a look of even more happiness, if that was even possible.

"Envy!" Despair yelled. Marta got up to see what they were staring at. Seeing her boss in danger, she forgot about watching the kids and ran out of the room. Wrath and Despair looked at each other, and just smiled. Envy was here, he's the strongest homunculus there is, they'd be out of here in no time. Realizing the lady was gone, they left the room.

"Despair, we should be at least able to take on the chimera's wile Envy fights Greed right?" Wrath asked. Despair nodded, although it didn't look like any of them were there. They must be helping Greed, Despair though, suddenly worried about Envy.

"Come on!" Despair yelled, suddenly grabbing Wrath's arm and running. Wrath could only stare, wondering what had gotten into Despair.

"Despair! What's wrong?" Wrath asked, trying not to fall down the stairs at the same time.

"They all must be fighting Envy, he's probably outnumbered, we should help him!" Despair said, still pulling Wrath. Wrath nodded, suddenly understanding. Despair opened the door to outside. Envy looked over, wile dodging Greed. They're safe, was his first thought. He slid to a halt.

"Well, what I came for is here, so I better be going, Despair, Wrath, come on," Envy said casually, pissing Greed off big time.

"Like hell I'm going to let you just come in here and take them," Greed growled, then turned to the bull chimera, "Law!" He said. Law was suddenly right behind Despair and Wrath, a large sword like thing up to there necks. Wrath was seriously starting to get pissed again.

"Damn it just let me go home already!" He yelled, spinning around and grabbing the sword. The second he grabbed it, he started fussing it to his arm. During this, Despair had gotten out of him grasp, and Law dropped his sword out of shock. Wrath, with his new sword-arm, slashed at the chimeras when they tried to get close.

Despair stood a little away, when he realized something. He looked down, confused. He'd ask Envy about it when they got home. After a wile of fighting, they managed to escape.

"You two ok?" Envy asked. They were walking threw the forest, and no one had said anything yet.

"Ya, we're fine, thanks for coming for us Envy," Despair said quietly. He and Wrath almost felt ashamed of being caught.

"Good," Envy said. Envy wasn't about to show he was happy they were back, he would just go to Dante and tell her Greed was on the loose again, not that he cared that they were back and safe anyway, right?

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The next day Ed decided to go to the place in the files that was Envy's home town. Apparently, it had been a small town just north of central. Ed guessed that if the town even still existed, it had most likely changed it's name by now.

After Roy had left last night, Ed had looked threw the files, and found out some, pretty ordinary, but useful information. Hometown, age, height, and name. When Ed found out his name, he had froze, he still got chills from thinking about it. Engel Elric. When Ed spotted the familiar last night, he remembered what the man had whispered to him right before he killed Alphonse. "Goodbye, brother." It gave Ed chills. He shook his head, as though to shake out the thoughts. Sighing, Ed walked on.

He walked for about a day until he reached his destination. He judged that the small farm town of Henaburge would be in approximately the same location as Envy's home town. He wasn't sure what he was looking for here, but it was a place to start at least. Walking down the dirt roads, it reminded him a lot of his hometown. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ed just walked along, engaging in small talk with the locals. No one seemed to remember any state alchemist ever living in this town, or any Engel Elric either. Slowly Ed walked around the small town until he cause sight of a cemetery. Shrugging, Ed decided to check it out.

Ed strolled up the small hill into the cemetery. He walked pasted many of the newer graves without a glace at them. It wasn't until he reached the older graves that he began looking at them. Many, far in the back, where the grass had obviously not been cut in months, had been completely covered. It was obvious that no one came back here anymore, the people who probably did, were now probably in the front or middle of the graveyard.

Walking slowly, Ed came farther and farther back. It almost amazed him, this town must be extremely old. Looking over each tombstone, Ed looked for anything that might catch his eye, until something finally did. One graves, almost perfect condition, not a weed or vine on it. Of course, itwere a little worn away, nothing could protect it completely from the environment, but it was nothing like the vine covered crumbling graves of everyone else. Ed ran over to it, careful as to not trip over any vines on his way. When Ed had got there, he froze.

. Engel Elric. Ed just sat and stared. Someone was taking care of that monster's 'grave.' Why would someone take care of this grave but not the others? Was it Envy himself? Why would he take care of his grave? Millions of questions flooded Ed's brain. Shaking his head, Ed got up and ran as fast as he could away from the graves, he tripped once, but he didn't fully stop until he was far away and deep into the small crowds of the afternoon market-goers.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Once they all got back, Wrath quickly went into his room. Envy said he needed to report some things to Dante, and so he left Despair. Despair just slowly walked around the house, confused. Envy could shape shift, Lust could turn her fingers into blades, Gluttony had his eating thing, Wrath could bind his body to objects and turn them into weapons and such, he heard something about Pride's eye or whatever, and Greed had his shield, but he didn't have any powers. No one asked his when he had first came, no one expected them from him, it was weird. Once Envy came out from talking with Dante Despair ran up to him. Envy looked down at him.

"You ok?" He asked. Despair had some sort of funny face, like he was just baffled. Despair looked down, then back up at Envy.

"Why don't I have any powers?" He asked. Envy looked slightly confused, as if he didn't know what he was talking about, but then it finally clicked.

"You have powers, all homunculus do," Envy said simply, and started walking. Despair followed, not satisfied at all.

"But, how come I've never been able to use my powers before?" He asked.

"You ever try to?" was Envy's question/answer. Despair stopped for a second, then started up again.

"No, but why hasn't Dante ever asked me about them?" Despair asked again. Envy shrugged slightly.

"I don't know, I'm not her," Envy said. Dante had actually asked him several times about Despairs powers. He always told her he either hasn't used them yet, or that he doesn't know. Despair looked down, almost disappointed. He still had no idea about his powers. Envy smiled softly.

"If your wondering about your powers, why don't you go outside and try to make um work?" Envy said. Despair smiled brightly, and nodded his head.

"Alright!" Despair said brightly, running off.

Despair ran outside, he went a little ways into the forest, incase he couldn't control his powers at first, he didn't want to hit something important. Once he decided he was at a nice place to try and use his powers, he stopped. Then he just sort of stood there. He had no idea how the other homunculus activated there powers, it just seemed like they just could, like they always knew. After a wile, he just sat down. He had no idea where to start. After a wile he sighed, leaning agents a tree. It wasn't long until he had fallen asleep, all the events from the past two days finally catching up to him.

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Ed walked quickly threw town, towards the train station. For some reason, he just wanted to leave. He got on the first train he could. It was heading back south, to a town he never heard of before. Once there, he just started to walk, wanting to clear his head. He just started walking, he went into a forest, not thinking, just trying to calm down. He had no idea why it shook him so much, it just did. After a wile he was able to calm down and think logically about it. That Envy guy is probably the one taking care of it for whatever reason.

After a wile, Ed decided it would probably be best to head back before he got lost in the forest at night. Ed started to turn around, but then something caught his eye. In a small clearing he could see something, a little yellow, and a pale tan. Curious, Ed walked over. He then could tell it was a person, getting closer, he could see it was more then a person. Shocked, he stood at the edge of the clearing.

Despair heard a small sound around him. Slowly, he opened his eyes. How long have I've been asleep? Was his first thought. Eyes focusing, he saw someone staring at him. He pushed himself off the tree trunk, and looked closely at the person. He looked extremely familiar.

Ed took a small step back. There was no way. His brother was dead. Suddenly, Envy's words flooded back into Ed's head. "What if I told you your dear little brother wasn't dead, well, not entirely that is." Ed took another step back, shaking his head slightly. Despair didn't seem fazed, just somewhat confused.

"Al?" Ed whispered quietly. Despair turned his head slightly, like a dog, until his eyes suddenly widened and he jumped back. Ed ran towards him. "Al! You ok?!" Ed yelled, completely forgetting that his brother was supposed to be dead.

Despair jumped up, and backed away from Ed. Almost looking like he was about to attack him. "Al?" Ed asked, stepping towards him, hand stretched out. Despair stared at the hand, then at Ed. He seemed to calm down a little. Then he shook his head.

"My names not Al, at least not anymore, sorry," Despair said. He remembered his name. He also had realized that the person was the person he was supposed to be brother. At first he had been terrified for some unknown reason, but then he had remembered his dream, where he had tried to protect his not his brother from Envy, if he did that, then the guy had to of been worth protecting then, so he can't be that bad.

"Huh?" Ed said. Al was unusually calm for this, and what did he mean by At least not anymore.

"My names not Al anymore, it's Despair now, um, I forget what your name was, Ned or something?" Despair said. He had no idea why he was so calm, but he was kind of happy to see him, maybe he could explain everything to him.

"It's Ed, Edward Elric, and, are-are you really my brother?" Ed asked, just hoping it was true, when it really seemed too good to be. Despair looked like he was concentrating hard on something.

"I'm not sure, well, I was your brother, when I was human, Envy said homunculus don't have families, but I'm not sure, I guess I kinda am, and I'm kinda not," Despair explained. Ed's eyes grew wide at the mention of Envy. Despair looked at him. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"Al… you.. know Envy?" Ed asked.. Despair nodded.

"It's Despair, but ya, he's nice," Despair said, leaving out the part about knowing that Envy had been the one to kill him. He knew that Ed probably knew, but didn't want to bring it up. Ed almost seemed to be calmed down by that.

"So, you've been alright all this time?" Ed asked, his eyes were full of worry, but he was also ecstatic about his brother being back, so much so that he just wanted to ignore about what he said about when he was human. Despair nodded.

"I've been fine, don't worry," Despair said. He wasn't going to tell him about being kidnapped by Greed, or the nightmares he had about Envy, or anything else that had happened to him, right now, he just wanted to spend some time with his not-brother.

They talked about nothing until late. Despair looked up at the sky. "Envy will come looking for me soon, I better get going," Despair said. Ed seemed a little distressed about it. "Don't worry, I've lived there a long time, I'll be fine," Despair said. Ed's face calmed a little.

"Alright Al, just, be careful, I don't want to loose you again," Ed said. Despair smiled and nodded. He had told him multiple times his name was Despair now, but he couldn't seem to get it right, so he decided to just let him call him Al. Despair left the clearing after saying goodbye to ed one more time. Once he was far enough away, Envy came out. Ed glared at him.

"What are you going to do to me now that Al has met me, and more importantly, what are you going to do to him?" Ed asked, glaring. Envy's face was blank. Ed growled, Envy smirked.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ed stared at the man. He had hated him from the start, but now his brother was saying he was nice, it had to of been a trick. "What's going on Envy?! Tell me!" Ed yelled. Everything was really going too fast for Ed to handle. He had seen Envy right before Al said he had to leave, he had no idea how long he had been there or what he was planning to do. Envy stopped smirking. He looked at Ed, then to the direction Despair had went.

"I told you he wasn't entirely dead," Envy said. Ed glared at him.

"I don't understand, what the hell dose entirely mean?! What did you do to him!?" Ed yelled again. Envy sighed.

"All this time and you really haven't been able to figer it out Fullmetal?" Envy said. Ed was really starting to get annoyed.

"Figer out what?" Ed asked. Envy sighed, surprised that one of the best alchemist in the world had really not thought of it, and when he gave him so many hints too.

"What we are, and how we were created," Envy said. Ed stared at him. He always just called him a monster, nothing more. He had tried to figer it out, but he couldn't, and he sure didn't know how they were created. Ed shook his head.

"I am, and your brother is, a homunculus., which are the result of failed human transmutation, Edward," Envy explained. Ed just fell, completely shell shocked. Of course, he had read about homunculus once, when he had been researching on how to bring his brother back, but had not seemed important at the time, so he discarded it into the back of his head. Suddenly, Ed had millions of questions and answers in his mind. Izumi, had she made one too? Envy really had died. What would happen to his brother now? Why me?

"Now what?" Ed asked, still on the ground. Envy stared at him. "What's going to happen now, what are you going to do to my brother?" Ed asked. Envy was quiet for a wile.

"Nothing, at least not now, and don't worry, you'll see me again before I decided to do anything, so goodbye for now, Fullmetal," Envy said, turning away.

"Wait!" Ed yelled. Envy stopped, and turned back to him. "Is there, a homunculus, around 11, besides my brother, black hair probably?" Ed asked, trying to see if his alchemy teacher had truly created one too.

"Yes, there is, why?" Envy asked, wondering how he knew Wrath of all people.

"I just needed to know, what's his name?" Ed asked. Envy sighed, turning back around.

"His name is Wrath, alright," Envy said, walking away. Ed said nothing after that, sitting there until deep in the night, just sorting things out. He decided that he would come back here tomorrow to see if he could meet his brother again, and then go back to Dubluth.

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Despair stopped running after some time, and looked around. He could barely believe was just happened. He saw his brother. It didn't feel like he was someone else's brother, he remembered him, not a lot, but he did. Although now, he didn't know what to do, what would the other homunculus make him do? What would his brother do? What should he do? So many questions ran through his head. After standing for a wile, trying to sort things out, he started walking again.

His biggest concern was what would Envy do. It was weird, in the short time he had spent with his brother, he was already attached to him. He wanted to know more about him and his life before, but it felt strange. He was not the person who Ed thought he was. He was reminded of this every time he had called him Al. Although he was attached to Ed already, he didn't feel he could just leave the homunculus, namely, Envy and Wrath. Wrath had been his first real friend. He knew he was Wrath's too. Then there was Envy. All this time, Envy had been like a brother to him, but now his real brother was here. He knew that Envy had been worried when he and Wrath were captured, he couldn't just say 'thanks for helping me all this time, but my real brothers here now, so I'm leaving.' No, he couldn't say that, and he didn't want to say that.

Despair sighed. He was almost at the house. He didn't want to face Envy yet, so once he got in he went straight to his room, and laid on his bed. About an hour later, Wrath came in.

"Wrath, it's late, what is it?" Despair asked, not turning to face him. Despair was still on his bed, head covered by the sheets. His voice was weak and broken when he spoke, as if he had been crying. Wrath immediately got a worried expression.

"Despair, what's wrong?" Wrath asked, walking towards him and sitting on his bed. Despair was quiet for a wile. He finally spoke.

"I…..saw my brother today," Despair said quietly. Wrath blinked, confused.

"You mean Envy?" Wrath asked. It was the only person Wrath thought Despair might think of as a brother. Despair had told him about the person he remembered as him brother, but he had not thought of him. Despair sat up when he said that, but still didn't face him.

"No, not Envy, my brother," Despair said softly. He had been happy when he was with his brother, but now everything was just crashing down on him. Wrath was still confused. Despair sighed. "I've told you about him, my brother when I was human," Despair explained, easily telling that Wrath didn't get it without even looking. Wrath softly made a oh sound. It was silent for a wile, until Wrath finally spoke.

"Where'd you see him?" Wrath asked. Despair still had his back to him. It worried Wrath, Despair never acted like this before, not even when he had the dreams about Envy.

"In the forest, I was asleep when he found me," Despair said, his voice was still a little horsed.

"Did he hurt you?" Wrath asked. Despair was obviously shocked, turning around for the first time since Wrath had came in.

"No, why would he do that?" Despair asked, sincerely confused. For some reason or another, he had not the resentment for his creator like the other homunculus. Despair knew Wrath did not truly hate his either. Maybe it was just the older homunculus who did.

"I don't know, you seem really sad, you sure he didn't hurt you?" Wrath asked, concerned. Although he did not hate his creator, he was wary of her, and though he should be of anyone else's, except Dante, of course.

"I'm sure, I'm just…confused. Wrath, what am I supposed to do, I can't just leave, but I want to see my brother more, he's nice, he was really worried about me, but, I can't leave you and Envy, I can't," Despair choked out, starting to cry in his hands. Wrath sat there, shocked. After a few seconds he put his hand on Despairs shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"I..I just don't know 'Spair, but, just don't worry, I'm sure everything will turn out alright, so, relax," Wrath assured him as best he could. Despair wiped his eyes and looked up at him, smiling softly.

"Thank you Wrath, that really helps," Despair said softly. Wrath smiled. He knew that Despair was probably just trying to make him not worry, but he still was happy that he might have been of a little help.

"No probalmo 'Spair, I told you that if you ever need help, you know where I am," Wrath said smiling. Despair nodded.

"So, why had you come in here in the first place?" Despair asked. Wrath blinked for a moment. Until he remembered.

"Oh ya! I was wondering if you were hungry, I heard you hadn't eaten since we got back from Greed," Wrath said. Despair smiled.

"I'm fine, I just want to sleep right now, but thanks, really," Despair said. Wrath nodded.

"Alright, I'll let you sleep, g'night," Wrath said, getting up.

"Good night," Despair called after him as he started out the room. Wrath nodded in reply and closed the door. Once he was out, he leaned agents the wall and sighed. "Please….don't leave Despair…I'll miss you…" He said softly, so no one would hear him.

Despair stepped away from the door and closed the crack he had been looking threw, the tears returning to his eyes. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't leave, he didn't want to leave, but he wanted to be near his brother again. Crying so Wrath couldn't hear him, he went back into his bed, and tried to catch some painfully alluding sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Despair managed to get in some small amount of sleep before morning. He didn't want to get up, but he thought it would be a good idea to see if his brother was at the clearing. Maybe he could help him sort things out. He finally got up, made sure to not run into Wrath, and yell out to Envy that he was going out as he went out the door.

On the way there, he thought about what Wrath had said the night before, when he though Despair couldn't hear him. It just made things even tougher. He didn't want to leave the people that had been like family to him for so many years. Sure, he knew very little about what they were actually trying to do, he just did what he was told, only asking Envy things on occasions, but he still cared about them. Well, Envy and Wrath, seeing as they were the only ones ever there for him. He got to the clearing and stopped, Ed was not there. Despair sighed and decided to wait to see if he would come.

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Ed woke from a shallow sleep. He got dressed quickly and got ready to go out to the woods. He wanted to see if Al was there, if Envy didn't hurt him. He realized that Al wanted to be called Despair, but he couldn't get it out of him without force. When he looked or thought about him, it was just like looking or thinking about his brother, there was no Despair to him, only Al. Last night he had done research about homunculus, and even now knowing exactly what his brother and the others were, he still couldn't think any less of him.

Ed decided that one of the things he had to do when he saw Al was to ask him about that Wrath kid, see if Izumi really did create him. If she did then he was definitely going to Duluth next. Although he didn't even know when 'next' was now. He wanted to stay with his brother, but he didn't know how. The other homunculus were definitely not going to just let him go. If he even wants to be with me, Ed thought. Ed walked into the clearing and saw Al leaning agents the same tree he had been sleeping agents yesterday.

"Hey Al," Ed said, walking up to him. Despair swung around to him, startled. He then smiled, realizing who it was. "How was your night?" Ed asked. Despair frowned remembering all the trouble he was having.

"Eh, not so good," He answered, not bothering to correct him about the name. Ed immediately frowned, worried. "Don't worry, nothing really happened, I'm I don't really know what to do about everything," Despair said, Ed calmed a little, but was still worried.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Ed asked, sitting down. Despair followed suit, sitting next to him.

"I don't know, I want to spend time with you and all, but I don't know what the other homunculus would say, the older ones really seem to hate there creators, except for master that is," Despair stated. Ed nodded. It felt weird that Al had called him his creator, but he supposed that was what he was, in a way.

"Who's master?" Ed questioned. Despair turned to him.

"Masters the one who tells us all what to do and stuff, I don't know why, but we just listen to her, probably because of the red stones, but ya, she created a few of us, and only one hated her, the first one she had made, Greed," Despair explained. Ed nodded his head every now and then, he wasn't completely following what Al was saying, but he almost got it.

"How many homunculus are there?" Ed asked. He was actually slightly scared, as far as he knew, there could be hundreds.

"Seven, including me," Despair said, "There's Me, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, and Greed." Ed nodded, feeling better now knowing that there weren't THAT many. "So, how was your night?" Despair asked. Ed blinked and then turned to him.

"It was ok, nothing really happened, but ya, I'm not sure what to do now either," Ed sighed. They sat in silence for a wile. After so long, Despair started to hug his knees.

"Ed, I want to be around you, I really do, but I was talking to Wrath last night, he and Envy are my only real friends there, and I can't leave them, I just can't," Despair whispered, pulling his knees closer to him. Ed looked at him, he didn't like seeing his brother like this, even if they had only just met each other again yesterday. He then put his hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Don't worry Al, if you don't want to leave, you don't have to, I'm sure we'll figer something out, just don't worry about it, ok?" Ed said. Despair looked up at him, and nodded.

"Alright, I wont," Despair said, and smiled slightly. Ed smiled back. They were quite for a little longer until Ed remembered how he was going to ask about Wrath.

"Hey Al," Ed started, waking Despair from his small trance.

"Ya brother?" Despair asked, not really thinking. Ed couldn't help but smile, Al had always just called him brother before he died.

"Well, it's about that one homunculus, Wrath, what's he like?" Ed asked, still happy from the familiar little name. Despair blinked. He didn't even know that Ed knew of Wrath, except for when he said that he and Envy were his only real friends.

"Um, he's nice, he can get angry easily though, but think about the name, um, he's pretty loud, but really he just wants to help, why?" Despair asked, sincerely confused.

"Who created him?" Ed asked, startling Despair again. Despair looked at him funny.

"Why?" Despair asked, not knowing whether to tell him or not.

"I think I might know his creator, my alchemy teacher actually," Ed explained simply. Despair said a soft oh, understanding.

"It was a woman named Izumi, well, that's what I was told, I never met her," Despair explained, and looked down again, "Actually, Wrath and I are the only ones who have a creator besides Master that we don't hate. Wrath can act like he doesn't care about her, but she doesn't live too far off from here, and he goes to watch her sometimes, he doesn't tell the others, but he dose care," Despair whispered softly.

"So, it is Teacher after all," Ed said. Despair nodded. And then turned to look ahead.

"Speaking of Wrath, I better get going, I don't want him to worry, I left before he woke up, and it's about noon now," Despair said, getting up. Ed nodded and stood as well,

"Actually Al, I think I'm going to go visit Izumi, which means I'll be gone for a few days, you gonna be ok if I do that?" Ed asked. Despair nodded.

"I'll be fine, when do you think you'll be leaving?" Despair asked. He actually thought maybe a few day with his brother away would do him some good.

"Probably today or early tomorrow, so I wont be able to see you again," Ed said. Despair nodded.

"Alright then, see you in a few days," Despair said. Ed grinned.

"Right Al, see you, bye," Ed said, starting to turn to leave.

"Ok, bye brother!" Despair called, starting to go. Ed smiled to himself. He put his hand up in a sort of wave. Putting it down he couldn't help but chuckle, he didn't know what was funny, but something sure was hilarious.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ed walked to Duluth as a leisurely pace. It wasn't too far away, so Ed decided to walk. It took him about a day to get there, but he did. Once there, he went to his teacher's butcher shop. As he walked in the bell rang.

"Hello, Teacher? It's me, Edward," Ed called, standing in the front room. Izumi walked in through a door off to the side.

"Edward, what are you doing here?" Izumi asked. Ed turned to her, his face suddenly serious.

"I know about homunculus, and how they are created," Ed told her. Her face went dark.

"I see, I take it you know what has probably happened when you tried to bring your brother back to life then, and what happened when I tried the same with my son," Izumi said. Ed nodded.

"Yes, I met Al and, he's not bad, really, he's just like before, he just doesn't remember much, I'm pretty sure he knows what became of your son too, they call him Wrath," Ed told her. He didn't want her to hurt his brother. She sighed.

"So you've met him. When?" She asked.

"Two days ago, in the forest, he didn't recognize me at first, but then he did, although he doesn't remember really anything, and that Envy is with him," Ed told her. She nodded. Ed looked at her. "He told me about a homunculus, named Wrath, it sounds like it could be the result of the baby you tried to transmute," Ed told her. Izumi sighed. Ed went on. "Al told me he was his friend, Teacher, I don't think they're bad, do you?" Ed asked her. She was silent for a long time.

"I don't know," She said after song time. Ed sighed, he didn't know what to do. Maybe he should meet this Wrath kid, if he was Izumi's dead son, maybe he could bring him back to her, or something. "Edward," Izumi said. Ed looked up. "Homunculus are dangerous, I'm not saying that you should hate them, or the one, Alphonse, for that matter, but you must be cautions with them, remember that," Izumi cautioned quietly.

Ed nodded slowly. He was indeed going to be careful around Envy or any other homunculus except his brother, he knew he could trust him after all. "Teacher?" Ed asked. Izumi looked at him. "What do you think the homunculus are planning?" Ed asked.

"I don't know Edward, but I do know it's probably been going on for a very long time and is very big," Izumi said. Ed nodded, agreeing with everything she said.

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Despair walked back into the house. He went into the kitchen and saw Wrath, who's face lit up when he spotted him. 'He thought I left' Despair thought to himself. He was right, Wrath had saw Despair was not in his bed this morning and had gotten extremely worried that he had abandoned them, that all went away when he saw Despair step through the door.

"Hey Wrath," Despair said casually, sitting down next to him at the table and grabbed a piece of bread.

"Hi, where were you at?" Wrath said. Despair put the bread down and looked at him.

"I went to see my brother, he said he had to go somewhere though, and that he'd be gone for a few days," Despair explained. Wrath nodded. "Hey Wrath?" Despair asked quietly. Wrath looked at him.

"What is it?" Wrath asked, concerned as Despair started to become slightly uncomfortable. Despair avoided Wrath's eyes, afraid of what his reaction might be.

"He said that he knew your creator, that's where he went," Despair spilled. Wrath's eyes grew wide for a moment, but then went back to normal. Wrath looked away from Despair before he began speaking.

"Why would I care? You can talk to your creator or do whatever you want, but I hate mine, got it?" Wrath said. He tried to sound angry, but Despair could tell he was just sad. Despair sighed softly and looked at him. He knew Wrath cared about his creator very much, and that this was all just a front the put up.

"Wrath," Despair started. Wrath still faced the other way. "Wrath, I know where you go at night, I've seen you leave at least four times," Despair said. Wrath flung around, glaring.

"You don't know anything! I hate her! Hate her!" Wrath yelled, near tears. Wrath got up and started to run.

"Wrath, wait!" Despair called, but Wrath either didn't hear him or didn't want to listen. Despair sighed. Wrath was strange, he couldn't figer him out. Despair got up and started to look for him. Wrath may be strange, but he was still his friend.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Despair couldn't find him. He had checked all of Wrath's normal hiding places, and he wasn't anywhere near them. He was beginning to get worried. He hadn't meant to upset him, he just wanted Wrath to tell him the truth he already knew. Despair sighed and sat down. He just hoped that Wrath wasn't hurt or anything. Despair got up and kept searching, calling Wrath's name occasionally. Despair decided to see if he had went outside. He started walking around the house calling for his friend when he spotted Envy.

"Envy," Despair called, running up to him, "Envy, have you seen Wrath anywhere?" Despair asked. The older sin shook his head.

"No, why?" Envy asked. Despair started to explain about how Wrath had gotten mad at him for talking about his creator, leaving out the parts about his brother and Wrath sneaking out at night. When he was done Envy sighed.

"Well, I haven't seen him, but don't worry, I'm sure the brat will be fine," Envy said, trying to cheer up Despair in his own little way. Despair nodded, but was still obviously troubled. Envy looked around, trying to think of something that would get Despairs mind off things. "Hey, did you ever figer out what your powers are?" Envy tried. Despairs head snapped up.

"No, I forgot all about that, I didn't have any idea what I was suppose to do to get um to work, so I fell asleep," Despair said, remembering why he had been in the forest in the first place when he had met his brother. Envy nodded.

"Maybe you should try again sometime," Envy suggested. Despair nodded and then looked around again.

"I'll try again once I find Wrath," Despair said, turning and going off to look for his run-away-friend once again.

Despair continued to search until dark, but decided to call it quits for the night about an hour after sundown. Lying down for bed Despair sighed, he supposed Wrath would be alright for the night, but he didn't think he'd sleep much that night.

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Izumi invited Ed to stay at her house for the night, which he accepted. Sitting down in his guest bed for the night, Ed sighed. He wondered how he would meet this Wrath kid. He could ask Al, but for some reason he wasn't sure that would be the best course of action. He thought about what Izumi had said to him about being cautious around the homunculus. What would Wrath be like, or even the others besides Wrath Al and Envy. He didn't know much about Lust or Gluttony, he only knew what they looked like basically. Another thought that plagued Ed's mind about the one Al had called master. Someone was controlling all the homunculus, to do that they must be pretty powerful. Ed shook his head, he'd figer everything out when he had to, or when he had more to go off of. Lying down, Ed decided to try and push all his thoughts of homunculus and threats and things out of his mind and just try and get some well earned sleep.

The next morning Izumi asked Ed to go get her some medicine. Ed went to get the medicine. On the way back Ed decided to make a shortcut . Walking through an ally way, Ed tripped and nearly dropped Izumi's medicine. "What the?" Ed asked, glancing back to see that he had tripped over something that looked similar to a dead black bear.

Wrath lifted his head up to see what had scraped over his leg. His purple eyes locked with confused gold ones. "Hey kid, what you doing sitting there?" Ed asked, seeing that his 'dead black bear' was actually a kid. Wrath turned away rudely.

"Like it's any of your business," Wrath sneered. Ed growled, then turned and rolled his eyes. He heard the kid getting up and walking away. For some reason he felt that he shouldn't let that kid leave, but decided that it would be best to not bother with the kid. Shrugging, he started to walk back to give his teacher her medicine.

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Wrath looked through the line of trees at his house. He'd been gone a long time and he was worried that he had made Despair mad at him by running off like that, but before he could choose whether or not to stay or to run away again he heard something rustling in the bushes next to him. Turning towards the sound, he saw Despair coming through the bushes, relief clear on his face as happily he ran/stumbled over to his friend.

"Wrath! I was so worried, where have you been all this time?" Despair questioned. Wrath looked down, avoiding Despairs gave. Despair frowned slightly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, the point is your back, right?" Despair said. Wrath looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks 'Spair, I'll tell you some other time, if that's ok with you," Wrath said. Despair smiled and nodded. Wrath then looked Despair over. Despair raised an eyebrow at him, but he ignored him. Wrath couldn't quite place it, but he knew someone else who looked that way. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought away and went back to his house with a slightly confused Despair.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Edward sat on his bed in the spare room yet again. He planned to go back into the forest in the morning. He still couldn't decide on what to do about the whole little brother homunculus situation, but figured he could talk to Al about it when he saw him again. 'I'll talk to him about Wrath too' Ed thought. Ed glanced at the phone on the side table next to the bed. He figured he'd have to go back to central sometime. It defiantly wasn't something he wanted to do, and he figured he'd try to put it off as long as possible.

Ed laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, only to fling them open again. He couldn't get that kid in the ally off his mind, he looked familiar from somewhere, and it was defiantly bothering him. Ed shook his head and chuckled softly to himself, no use getting worked up over a strange passerby when he had so many other problems on his mind. Reaching his hand over he turned off the light, he wanted to go to bed early so he could wake up and walk back to the forest as soon as possible.

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Despair glanced over at Wrath. Envy had reminded him about trying to figure out his powers again, and he wondered if Wrath could help him with them. "Hey Wrath?" Despair asked. Wrath glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Despair took that as a sigh to continue. "Do you think you could help me figure out how to use my homunculus powers, I've never been able to before," Despair said. Wrath blinked in surprise, he had never realized Despair didn't use his powers like the rest of them.

"Sure," Wrath said after a brief pause. Despair smiled happily.

"Thanks, I've been meaning to try to figure them out for some time now, but with Ed and everything I've been too way busy," Despair said. Wrath nodded in reply wile starting at Despair. He had changed from the shy quiet little kid Wrath first met. Wrath looked away and shrugged. Despair and Wrath were about to head outside when they ran into Envy.

"Hey Envy, I'm going to go try and figure out my powers again," Despair announced happily. Envy nodded, putting his hand on Despairs head wile looking the other direction.

"That's nice, show me them when you figure out what they are, ok?" Envy said. Despair nodded happily. Wrath stared at his friend yet again. He had changed a lot not in just the time Wrath had known him, but since he had met his brother. Although it was obviously confusing for him, Wrath could tell it made Despair happy knowing his brother. Wrath fallowed Despair outside and into the forest. The more they walked the more Wrath became curious about Despairs powers.

"So, what do you think they'll be?" Wrath asked. Despair shrugged. He truly had no clue. They reached a clearing, different from the one Despair used to meet with his brother, and stopped. Despair turned to Wrath.

"Now what?" Despair asked. Wrath blinked and shrugged.

"Try and use them on me," Wrath said, stepping a few feet away from Despair. Despair looked at Wrath, he had no clue how to do that.

"How do you use your powers?" Despair asked. Wrath thought for a moment.

"I'm not really sure, it just comes naturally, I guess, hm. Oh, I know, pretend I'm going to kill you for real, and just try to kill me, or just defend yourself, or something," Wrath said. Despair thought for a moment and then nodded. Despair and Wrath both got into a fighting stance. Despair was concentrating on trying to activate his powers when Wrath suddenly attacked him. Despair dodged quickly only to have Wrath round onto him again.

"Wrath, what are you doing?!" Despair asked, dodging Wrath who was trying to impale him with a spike he had turned his hand into. Wrath didn't answer, he only kept on attacking. Despair kept dodging, wile Wrath kept coming at him and attacking. It went on for some time and Despair was staring to get annoyed. He started to stop just dodging and fight back, but wasn't able to do much, mainly because one, he wasn't trying to truly hurt Wrath and two, he only had his hands and feet when Wrath, able to use his powers, could make his hands and feet into deadly spikes and blades and such.

By now Despair had forgotten about trying to use his powers and was just trying to beat Wrath. Suddenly a small light surrounded his right arm. When the light faded, a black blade was jutting out of the top of his arm, it wasn't too long, and the top was flat wile the two sides were incredibly sharp and came together at the end to form a sharp point. Despair stopped his attack and stared at him arm. Wrath stopped attacking and smirked. Despair looked at his left arm, and the light appeared and a blade identical to the first one was now there. The light appeared once more this time on both arms and the blades were gone. Despair looked up at Wrath, who was still smirking.

"Well what do you know, my plan worked," Wrath said. Despair smiled and shook his head. At least he knew what his power was now and how to use it, and all he had to do what have Wrath annoy him.

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Ok, so I made Despairs powers like Ed's automail blade. Um, I don't usually write author notes so huh, um please review, me like them.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 

Despair ran into the house, Wrath fallowing close behind. Despair found Envy rather quickly, and ran up to him excitedly. Envy looked up from whatever task he was doing to the two kids.

"Envy, I found out how to use my power!" Despair announced. Envy smirked slightly.

"Well then, what is it?" Envy asked, actually quite curious.

"Watch," Despair said, taking a step back as the light went around his right arm. Once again when the light disappeared the blade was there on his arm. Envy looked at it and then smirked again.

"Well, that's interesting, good job, I'll go report it to Dante," Envy said, getting up and starting to walk away. Despair nodded. Once Envy had left Wrath turned to Despair.

"Why is Envy nice to you?" Wrath asked. Despair was actually quite taken back.

"What do you mean?" Despair asked.

"Envy is nicer to you then anyone else, what did you do?" Wrath asked, it wasn't that he was jealous, he was just curious. Despair thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything.

"I don't know really, he's just never really been that mean to me," Despair said. Wrath shrugged and decided that that was a good enough answer for him. Despair suddenly stiffened as if he remembered something all of a sudden. "Wrath, I'm gonna go see if my brother came back, I'll be back in a bit," Despair said. Wrath nodded.

"Kay, just don't stay out too long," Despair nodded and left to go see if Ed had returned.

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Ed woke up early the next morning. He didn't like getting up early, but he wanted to go see Al. Getting dressed, Ed wondered if Al would even be there, he never told Al when he was going to be back or any time to meet him, they had only been lucky in catching each other so far. Shaking his head, Ed decided not to worry about it until be got there. Walking into the front room/butcher shop Ed ran into Izumi.

"Your leaving again?" Izumi asked him. Ed looked down, trying to avoid her cold stare.

"Ya, I want to talk to Al about some things," Edward told his teacher. Izumi's hard eyes softened and she nodded. Edward kept his head down and shifted from one foot to the next. "I'm going to have to go back to central sometime soon too, not that I exactly want to," Ed went on. Edward could sense his teacher stiffen at the mention of his job in the military, but she quickly controlled herself and nodded.

"If you must," was all she said on the matter. After that Edward ate a quick breakfast, said his goodbyes and left.

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Despair arrived at the clearing. Sighing, he saw it was empty. Despair decided to go and wait, after all it was still early. Sitting agents a tree, he closed his eyes and waited. It wasn't long until he heard moving in the brush around him. Opening his eyes, he was a bush quiver and then become still again. Despair cocked his head, that bush wasn't in the direction Edward usually came, it was facing his house, also Edward wouldn't be hiding from him. Realizing who it must be, Despair sighed.

"Come out Wrath, I know your there," Despair called. Slumping out of the bush, Wrath came forward looking like a small child caught stealing cookies before dinner. Despair sighed yet again, he seemed to be doing a lot of that recently, and asked. "Wrath, what are you doing here?" Wrath shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.

"I wanted to see what your brother was like," Wrath admitted finally. Despair smiled.

"If you wanted to meet him you could of just asked," Despair said. Wrath finally lifted his head up.

"Ya I know but--" Wrath was cut off by a yell of.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" The person who yelled this was indeed Edward. Despair and Wrath turned towards him, despair looking slightly happy wile Wrath looked otherwise.

"You!" Wrath yelled, remembering the person who had tripped over him. Blinking, Wrath suddenly remembered thinking he had seen Despairs face somewhere else. Turing to Despair, Wrath yelled. "Him?!" All Despair did was nod.

"Yes him, you've met him?" Despair said. Wrath nodded.

"Ya, that guy tripped over me when I ran away," Wrath explained. Despair nodded and turned to Ed.

"Ed, this is my friend Wrath, but it appears you two have already met," Despair explained casually. Edward's eyes grew slightly wide.

"Your Wrath?" Ed asked. Wrath nodded. Ed stared intently at Wrath, Wrath doing the same to Edward. Despair stood in the middle, feeling slightly out of place and awkward. "You look like Izumi," Edward said after a few minutes of silence. Wrath immediately glared at Ed, then quickly spun around.

"'Spair, I'm going home, I'll see you later," Wrath said, and started to walk away. Despair stepped toward him.

"Wait, are you sure, he didn't mean to," Despair tried, but Wrath just ignored him and continued to walk. Once Wrath was gone Despair let out a long sigh and turned toward his brother. "I'm sorry about Wrath, as his name suggest he has a bit of a temper," Despair said. Edward shook his head.

"It's alright, I don't mind," Ed said. Deciding to turn the subject away from the angry child who had just left them Ed asked. "So, how have you been?" Despair smiled.

"Fine, how about you?" Ed sat down and leaned agents a tree.

"Good, although I'm still really confused, but I can deal with that," Ed said. Despair sat down next to him and nodded. Despair looked in the direction Wrath had left.

"So, you stayed with that Izumi lady, the one who created Wrath?" Despair asked, not lifting his gaze from where Wrath had disappeared. Ed nodded.

"Ya," Was all he said. They stayed in silence for a wile longer, both contemplating on what to say. It was Ed who broke the silence.

"I'm going to have to go back to central soon," Ed said, his voice carrying a small hint of regret.

"You live in Central?" Despair asked. Ed shook his head.

"No, my works in Central," Ed explained. Despair tore his eyes away from whatever he had been staring at for the last ten minutes and turned towards Ed.

"Really? What do you do?" Despair asked, curious. Ed tried to put on a smile.

"I'm a state Alchemist," Ed told him. Despairs eyes shown with amazement.

"Really Brother?! But your so young! That's amazing! What's your state Alchemist name?" Despair bombarded Ed with questions. Ed just laughed.

"Yes, really, and it's the Full metal Alchemist, pretty cool huh?" Ed said proudly. Despairs high spirits fell sharply hearing his state alchemist name. Wasn't that the guy Dante was always mumbling about. Forcing a smile on his face, Despair nodded.

"That is really cool Ed, but when do you have to leave? Do you know when you'll be back?" Despair asked. The mention of having to leave had brought Ed's attitude down as well.

"Probably as soon as possible, so that no one expects anything has happened to me, how about I come back in exactly one month from today?" Ed suggested. Despair nodded.

"One month sounds good," Despair agreed. Despair wondered momentarily if he should show Ed his homunculus power, but decided agents it. Edward stood up and looked towards where Wrath had run off.

"I guess you could tell him sorry for me," Ed said. Despair stood as well and nodded.

"I'll do that," Despair told him. Ed sighed.

"I guess I should get going," Ed sighed. Despair nodded, then smiled at Edward.

"See you in a month?" Ed smiled and nodded back.

"Yep, see ya," Ed said, and started to walk away. Once Ed was gone Despair slumped against a tree and slid down, burying his face in his arms.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist….Brother, why are you in Master's plan… What is she going to do with you?" Despair asked. The only answer he received was wind ruffling the leaves


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Despair woke up confused. Thinking back he realized he must of fell asleep after his brother left. _His brother._ He had no idea what Master would want to do with his brother, but he knew it couldn't be exactly good, seeing as she never seemed exceptionally happy talking about this Full metal Alchemist. He never asked about it because it never interested him. Just do what Master tells you and you can do whatever you want when your done. That's what he though and didn't ask questions because of it. Now he almost wish he did. If someone made Master angry they usually died, and if Master is angry at brother then… Despair shook his head, he didn't want to think like that.

Stretching from his nap, Despair got up. Remembering Wrath Despair quickly started to head home. Despair hoped he had calmed down from his meeting with Ed. Reaching the house, Despair sighed and pushed open the big doors, not quite sure he wanted to go in.

Despair decided to find Wrath first. Going to Wrath's room, Despair knocked on the door, hoping he was there so he wouldn't have to search the whole house. Despair received no answer at first so tried to call him. Hearing footsteps Despair smiled. Wrath opened the door and peeked out.

"Can I come in?" Despair asked his friend. Wrath opened the door wider signaling for Despair to come in. Once in Wrath shut the door and Despair sat on his bed. "So, you met my brother before?" Despair asked. Wrath shrugged.

"I didn't know it was your brother at the time," Wrath explained. Despair nodded.

"He told me to tell you he was sorry," Despair said, remembering what Ed had said before he left. Wrath cocked his head to the side, which he did when he was confused.

"Why?" Wrath asked. Despair shrugged, not exactly sure why himself.

"I don't know, for offending you or something I guess," Despair said.

"So, where's your brother now?" Wrath asked. Despair tried to hide his distress at remembering who his brother was and why he was in Central.

"Central," Despair said. When Wrath looked confused Despair explained that it was for his work, but didn't tell him what his work was exactly. Despair stayed for a wile longer before heading off to his room. About halfway there he ran into Envy.

"Hey Envy, what did Master say about my power?" Despair asked happily. Envy gave a small half smile.

"She said It was good," Envy said. Despair nodded. "So, where've you been all day?" Envy asked.

"Out in the forest with Wrath, but then he got mad and left and I fell asleep," Despair said. He decided it wasn't really a lie, because everything he said was true, he just didn't tell him everything. Even though, it still made him feel guilty. Envy chuckled. He had to admit, it was a good lie, but he knew what he was really up to, not that he'd let Despair know he knew. Envy nodded. Despair walked away after that.

Once Despair got to his room he started to think. Why his brother? What did Dante want with him? Why was Envy nicer to him then the others? What should he do? Despair flung his head onto his pillow, he never had a headache before and he didn't like it. Rolling onto his back Despair decided to just try to push these thoughts out of his head, once he needed to get involved he would. Still, it didn't feel right to him to just push everything away. Groaning Despair decided to go back to sleep, figuring that he had slept more since he had met his brother then in his entire life.

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Edward got onto the train heading for Central. Leaning back, he tried to remember why he had even been in that town in the first place. Remembering his freak out at that grave made him shudder. Sighing, Ed tried to get his mind off of the grave and looked at the scenery sweeping by.

By the next day Ed was in Central. Walking into central base Edward wasn't exactly happy about being there. He inwardly groaned when he ran into Mustang.

"Well Fullmetal where have you been?" Mustang asked. Ed shrugged.

"Like it's any of your business where I am," Ed muttered. Roy smirked, this was just the type of response he expected from the teen alchemist.

"Why yes, as my subordinate, it is my business to know what you have been up to," Mustang replied, still smirking. Ed growled quietly.

"Well I'm still not telling you, I don't feel like it," Ed stated stubbornly. Roy sighed, he never was good with kids, especially stubborn ones like Full metal.

"Fine, just keep yourself out of trouble, anything you do bad reflects me," Roy ordered. Edward rolled his eyes and pushed past the Cornel.

Getting to his little room in Central base Ed dropped onto his bed only to not even lay a minute before someone knocked at his door. Groaning something to let them know they could come in Ed sat up. Edward sat right back down when he saw it was Mustang who came in.

"Fullmetal is that anyway to respect your higher ups?" Roy asked. Edward didn't even look up when he gave him the answer of a simple "Nope" Roy sighed. Ed sat up.

"Look, I'm tired, I wasn't doing anything dangerous, I visited my alchemy teacher, happy?" Ed said, flopping back down onto his bed after he was done. Mustang nodded and smirked.

"See full metal, was that so hard?" Roy asked. Ed frowned and glared at the older man.

"Would you leave, I've got a headache," Ed moaned. Roy kept the smirk on his face and left.

Alone in the room Ed sighed to himself. His thoughts quickly drifted back to Al. He wondered if Al would be alright by himself for a whole month. Ed shook his head, Al had lived there for years, he'd be fine for one month. That settled in his mind he remembered Al's friend, that Wrath kid. Ed couldn't help but chuckle at the fact they had run into each other before them.

Small world, Ed thought. Yawning, Edward slowly lost track of his thoughts and nodded off.

--

Ok, sorry not much happened in this chapter and it took so long to get up, and I can't really say I've been busy cause that would be a lie. So sorry if this wasn't very fulfilling, I'll try to make the next chapter come sooner and be more exciting.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The next few weeks had gone by in a haze for Despair. Without his brother around time yet again seemed to disappear in the mansion. Staring at a butterfly slowly floating by his position on a branch in a tree by the house, his mind yet again began to wonder to his brother. It was always the same questions, and he could not find an answer. He had considered telling Wrath, but decided agents it, never sure on how the moody boy would react.

"Despair!" Wrath called from under the tree. Despair smiled. _Speak of the devil._ He thought to himself, slipping off the branch and onto the ground. "Dante wants us to go to Central," Wrath explained. Despair's stomach twisted itself into a knot.

"What for?" Despair asked, trying to hid his anxiety. Wrath must of caught some of it because he suddenly looked concerned for his friend, but decided to ignore it.

"She wants us to watch some dude called the full metal alchemist, he's like, son of some guy or somthin," Wrath explained. Despair couldn't hold his dread in any longer. He knew that Wrath must of saw the look of complete distress on his face he hadn't been able to wipe off his face for a few seconds.

Wrath looked at Despair now deeply concerned. " 'Spair what's Wrong?" Wrath asked. Despair put on his best smile, hoping Wrath would fall for it.

"I'm fine, really," Despair lied. He knew Wrath didn't believe him in the least but he hoped that he would let it drop. Wrath sighed and looked slightly desperately at Despair, but decided to drop it, knowing that when Despair didn't want to tell someone something he didn't.

"Alright, but we better get going," Wrath said, changing the subject. Despair nodded, following Wrath out of the yard and towards the nearest town.

Slipping onto a train was simple, but they had to stay quiet. Despair used to love the quiet but right now he wished Wrath would go on one of his rants about nothing. More then that he wished he could go see his brother. He's oblivious about master and it worried Despair greatly. The silence also made his mind wander to things he really did not want to think about. What would Wrath do when he finds out master's next target and his brother are the same person? Shaking his head, he brought himself out of his thoughts when the train pulled into their stop.

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The last three weeks had been incredibly long and annoying to Edward. Mustang had given him almost all the paperwork he didn't feel like doing himself. Ed's mind kept going to his brother and wondering if he was alright. Ed never liked staying in Central long and now that he really wanted to be somewhere else being there was killing him.

Ed sat in the library reading a book he only half cared about. Yawning, he shut the book and leaned back on his chair, glancing out the window through half lidded eyes. He was glad he only had to last one more week in this place before he could leave. Ed had thought about quitting now that he had found his brother, but decided agents it, still having a feeling that being a dog of the military could have it's uses, at least for a little longer.

Ed put his chair back on all fours at the sound of a muffled yell outside the window. Getting up and looking out the window, he shrugged when he saw nothing and decided to go back to reading.

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"That's the Full metal Alchemist!? That's your _brother!" _Wrath yelled, but was quickly pulled down and had a hand placed over his mouth by Despair. Waiting until Ed went away from the window Despair took his hand off of Wrath's mouth and looked at him desperately.

"I know, please, don't tell, I don't know what to do about it," Despair pleaded. Wrath looked at his friend and sighed.

"I wont, if Dante finds out, she will, besides, no one even knows you have a brother but me right, so how would Dante find out if no one tells her, right?" Wrath said. Despair smiled and gave his friend a quick hug, but was pretty much pushed off anyway. Despair laughed at his friend's ticked off expression. Wrath just shook his head and looked back through the window at Ed. After about an hour later Ed got up out of his chair. Wrath and Despair ducked down into the bushes around the library as Ed walked out. Following Ed to his room, Wrath and Despair made sure to stay out of Ed's sight. Despair was glad that Wrath had promised to not tell about his brother, and just seeing Ed for some reason made him feel better.

Despair and Wrath made a note of which room was Ed's in the military dorms and then turned to leave.

"So, that's the full metal pipsqueak huh," a voice said from behind. Despair swung around quickly, not expecting anyone was there.

"Oh, hi Envy," Despair said, trying to sound happy. He knew Envy had seen his brother before and hoped that he did not recognize him. Wrath looked at Envy confused.

"Why are you here? Did Master send you?" Wrath asked. He knew that if Envy had found out about Ed being Despairs brother it wouldn't be good. Something about Envy hating the living daylights out of his dad or something, Wrath wish he had been paying attention.

"Ya, she wasn't sure if you two should be left out on your own, seeing as last time you were taken by greed and everything," Envy explained. Wrath and Despair nodded, and all three sins started walking away. Wrath didn't know how Despair felt, but he had a feeling like Envy was trouble for some reason. He wasn't sure how Despair would fare with the two people he considered brothers to him would inevitably clash, but he knew that he would help his friend thought the ordeal in any way he can.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Envy, Wrath and Despair walked into the run down section of Central. Finding a suitable abandoned building and taking care of the homeless already there they settled in for the night. Envy left the two youngsters and went to the second floor. About an hour after Envy had gone upstairs Wrath looked at Despair and slipped outside. Despair waited a few minutes before following.

"This is not good," Wrath whispered. Despair nodded. He cared about Envy, but he knew that Envy care for his brother. "What are you going to do?" Wrath asked. Despair shrugged.

"I don't know, just, hope things work out for the best," Despair suggested. Wrath sighed and rolled his eyes.

"With the way you put off taking action, your name should be changed to Procrastination," Wrath joked. Despair simply smiled, he wasn't in the mood to laugh and it was too dangerous, Envy might hear. A few seconds later Wrath slipped back into the house, followed by Despair.

It was about four in the morning when Wrath decided it was safe to leave. Making sure Despair was really asleep and not pretending Wrath slipped out for the second time that night.

Running through the empty streets Wrath quickly made it to the military dorms and found the room they marked as Ed's. Luckily there was a tree near the wall and Wrath was able to reach the window easily. Opening the window, Wrath sneaked in as easily and quietly as he had sneaked out of his temporary home.

Ed laid on his bed asleep. Wrath just stared, not sure what to do next. He never woke up a human before, and he wasn't sure if it was the same as waking up Despair. He also wasn't sure what to say to Ed once he was awake. Sighing under his breathe, Wrath decided just to wing it and see what happens.

Poking Ed in the side wrath hissed, "Yo, Despair's brother, Ned or whatever _wake up!_" Wrath growled as Ed just rolled over and mumbled something. Shaking Ed slightly Wrath tried to wake him up. Ed sharply turned away from him and mumbled something along the lines of earthquakes and doughnuts. Now pretty pissed off Wrath pushed Ed off the bed.

"Urg, huh? What the? Who?" Ed asked, tangled in the blanket and not able to see with it over his head as well. Wrath just waited until Ed managed to get himself together enough to pull the blanket off his head. "What what? Wrath!" Ed eyes focused on the now impatient sin.

"Finally, look, I need to talk to you," Wrath started. He wasn't quite getting through to the still half asleep Ed though.

"What are you doing in my room?" Ed asked, generally puzzled. Wrath sighed and leaned on a desk next to Ed's bed.

"I'm trying to talk to you about something important, okay," Wrath said, hoping Ed would listen now. Nodding, Ed got off the floor and sat back oh his bed, still facing Wrath.

"Well what is it then?" Ed asked, not awake and wanting to know what had caused the sin to come to his room in the middle of the night and wake him up.

"It's about your brother, Despair, and Envy," Wrath explained, even though he didn't think Ed knew who Envy was, but in reality he did and his eyes went wide at the mention of him.

"Envy? What he do? Is Al ok?" Ed asked franticly. Wrath eyed Ed suspiciously.

"Despair's fine, for now. How do you know of Envy?" Wrath asked. Ed blinked, confused at the question, didn't Wrath work with Envy and would of known he'd been threatening him?

"He's talked to me before, he's the one who killed Al in the first place!" Ed yelled the last part. Wrath lunged forward and place a hand over his mouth.

"Be _quiet_! Do you want someone to come in here and have me leave or do you want to know what's happening with your brother?" Wrath growled, removing his hand from Ed's mouth once he nodded. Leaning back on the desk was sighed. "Alright, so Envy's already made contact with you, and you know he's the one who killed your brother, but how much dose Envy know about your brother, dose he know it's Despair?" Wrath asked. Ed couldn't help but just stare at him for a second, he was acting very calm.

"Ya, of course he knows Despair's Al, why wouldn't he?" Ed answered. Wrath didn't answer his question but started to mumble to himself.

"This is bad, very bad, Envy knows who you are. Envy….Envy probably knows everything. Dose that mean Master knows everything too. This is very, very bad…" Wrath trailed off, shuffling his feet. Ed started to grow annoyed.

"Look, tell me what's going on, where's Al? Is Envy going to hurt him? Who is this master you all are always talking about? I want answers!" Ed yelled, grabbing Wrath by his shirt. Ed was almost instantly across the room holding his stomach where Wrath's knee had hit it.

"_Despair_," Wrath started, trying to get the point across that his friend's name was not Al, "Is safe, but I don't know for how long. As for who Master is, now I can't exactly tell you that now can I?" Wrath finished. Ed glared at the boy from where he sat. He didn't get this kid, one minute he's all calm trying to tell him information, the next he's kneeing him in the gut and talking like Envy. Smirking, Wrath left Ed where he was and left, the smile faded the second he hit the ground though. He had to warn Despair. Turning, Wrath ran, not to the abandoned building like he planned, but straight into Envy.

"E-envy!" Wrath blurted out, surprised, his voice cracking.

"Well, well, well, what were you doing out this late?" Envy asked a question he already obviously knew the answer to. Wrath frowned and glared up at the much older sin.

"You knew about Ed and Despair, you knew before they even met didn't you? What is it your trying to pull? Dose Master know?" Wrath asked, deciding to not avoid the inevitable. Envy smirked.

"What are you going to do that'll make me answer any of that. If you tell master, what if she already knows, and then she'll also know you've spoken to the Full metal pipsqueak without permission. Actually, I don't think I'll give you the chance to tell anyone, the other's will find out about the traitor by morning," Envy said, transforming his arm into a large stone spike. Wrath's eyes widened at the spike and he stepped back. Envy took another step forward, Wrath another back, and another and another and another and hit a wall. Gulping, Wrath allowed his foot to sink into the ground and had a spike almost identical to Envy's appear on his arm fro the materials from the dirt.

Wrath knew he could not beat Envy, he had been beaten by him numerous times, he just hoped he could hold him off long enough for Despair to find them gone and come looking. But even if he did come, who would he believe? He had known Envy longer, what if….what if he actually helped Envy kill him? Wrath shook off the thought and got into a fighting stance, about to defend himself from Envy.

Envy lunged forward, spike out a head. Wrath lifted his spike arm over his chest and waited for the impact. It didn't come. Looking up he saw Ed, fighting Envy.

"What the?" Wrath whispered, dumbfounded. Ed glanced in Wrath's direction, still keeping his main focus on Envy of course.

"You know, I could use a little help here," Ed grunted, throwing Envy's spike away from him with his now bladed automail. Wrath nodded and ran towards the fighting two. Slashing at Envy Wrath distracted him for a short enough time for Ed to stab him, giving Wrath time to hack off his arm. Ed looked more then a little grossed out by that but kept fighting when Envy wouldn't give up. The young homunculus and alchemist still seemed to only match the strength of the ancient creature. The sun was starting to rise when Envy jumped away into a tree above them.

"Well, you can survive for now, but don't expect to be allowed back," Envy said, staring at Wrath in the eyes. Wrath glared back, knowing what Envy said was true and there was nothing he could do to help Despair now. "And you," Envy started, turning to Ed, "You still haven't got the faintest clue into how big all this is," Envy hopped lightly down from the tree branch, facing away from the two boys. "Have fun," Envy called back, running off to where he and Despair were staying for the night.

Once Envy was gone Wrath dropped to his knees, spike forming back into his hand. Ed stared at the smaller boy for some time before sighing. "Guess your with me now kid," Ed said, pulling the smaller boy up by his shoulder. Wrath's eyes were blank as he followed Ed into his dorm.

Once in Ed's room Ed put a blanket and extra pillow on the ground for Wrath to lay on. "Get some sleep, we'll see what to do with you in the morning, alright" Ed commanded. Laying on the blanket and pillow Wrath pulled some over himself and shut his eyes like he was told. Ed laid back into his bed. This was just great, everything was getting more and more complicated and now he had to look over a homunculus who looked like he had been completely and utterly broken. Taking one last glace at the smaller boy Ed decided that maybe there was a chance this could work out. Closing his eyes he tried to get the last few hours left for sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Envy slipped back into the house, hoping Despair was still asleep. He wasn't. Despair ran over to her, eyes full of concern and confusion, not a combination usually seen in the eyes of a homunculus.

"Envy I woke up and you and Wrath were got and I looked all over the house and you weren't here and I didn't know what to do and where's Wrath?" Despair asked franticly. Envy sighed, this was exactly what he wasn't looking forward to, explaining and lying to Despair and ultimately upsetting him.

"I followed Wrath outside last night, he was heading towards Central Base," Envy started. "He was attempting to tell some state alchemist about us, the traitor," Envy growled the last part. Despair shook him head disbelievingly, tears starting to weal up in the corners of his eyes.

"No, no, Wrath, He wouldn't do that, he's my friend," Despair whispered, looking down. Envy sighed and put his hand on Despair's shoulder, the most comfort he's given someone in over 400 years.

"I wouldn't of pinned the kid as a traitor either, but he is," Envy said. Despair stayed silent for a few moments.

"Is he still alive?" Despair asked finally. Envy nodded.

"Yeah, he got away before I could get to him, but he won't be coming back," Envy told him. Despair nodded, starting to wipe his eyes. Envy let go of his shoulder. "We should get back and tell the old lady about what happened," Envy suggested. Despair nodded, following Envy out of the abandoned building.

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Bang! Bang! Bang! Was the unpleasant sound Edward was greeted to wile waking up. Groaning Ed pushed his head off his pillow. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ed called. Walking over to the door he tripped over something big. "Urg, what the, oh shit!" Ed panicked, remembering the homunculus he had taken into his room that night. "Um, wait a minute!" Ed called to whoever was outside the door. "Wrath, wake up, come on!" Ed whispered urgently, shaking the young homunculus awake. The boy simply stared at Ed confused as Ed lead him over to the closet and pushed him in. "Stay in there until I say you can come out!" Ed ordered. Wrath nodded right before Ed shut the door. Throwing the makeshift bed Wrath had used back onto his own bed Ed ran over to the door and opened it.

"Everything alright kid?" Havoc, the tall blond smoker in Mustangs crew asked. Ed nodded.

"Yeah, I just stayed up pretty late last night, what time is it?" Ed asked, trying to sound like he wasn't hiding someone in his closet.

"About one, Mustang just sent me here to remind you that you had to come to his office today for something at two," Havoc explained. Ed nodded, remembering. "I'll leave you to get ready, later," Havoc said, leaving.

"Ok, thanks bye," Ed called, shutting the door and flopping against it. "Alright, you can come out now," Ed called once sure that Havoc was far enough away. Wrath stepped out of the closet, looking pretty much the same way he had the night before. Ed let out a long sigh and flopped onto his bead. Glancing up at Wrath he flopped right back down. "What am I suppose to do with you, I can't keep you here, and you can't go back can you?" Ed asked, sitting back up. Wrath shook his head. Ed felt confused, irritated, pity and anger at the situation he had been forced into. Looking at a clock next to his bed Ed groaned.

"I have to go meet my boss in an hour, will you be ok wile I'm gone?" Ed asked. Wrath nodded. Ed started to get ready wile Wrath sat on his bed, staring at nothing. Two o'clock rolled around and Ed had to leave.

Walking out of his dorm Ed was suddenly worried. What if someone came in and saw Wrath? Shaking his head Ed decided no one ever came into his room when he was gone and even if they did hopefully Wrath would still have enough sense in him to hide when he saw it wasn't Ed.

Walking into Roy's office he frowned at seeing his 'most favorite person.'

"Why, how nice of you to show up Fullmetal," Mustang said. Ed growled.

"Just tell me what you want and get this over with, I'm kinda busy," ed said, sitting down on a couch by the wall.

"Yes, yes, I can see how you could be short on time," Roy started. Ed glared dangerously at Roy, daring him to continue. "Well, I wanted to tell you that your state alchemist certification exam is coming up, you should start getting ready now," Roy warned. Standing up Ed stretched.

"Yeah, whatever, if that's all I'll be going now, they're still serving lunch right?" Ed said, unworried.

"Fullmetal, you should pay more mind to things like this," Roy started. Ed just put his hand up in a goodbye as he walked out the door.

Going to the cafeteria Ed took two trays of food, no one really noticed seeing as Ed ate so much anyway this seemed normal. Taking the food back to his room he was glad to find the door still closed. Balancing a tray in his mouth Ed closed the door with his free hand behind him.

"Hey Wrath I brought you some food. Wrath?" Ed looked around, not seeing the long haired sin anywhere. Seeing the window open Ed put the trays down and looked outside, afraid of seeing the boy terrorizing people or being terrorized by someone. Not seeing the boy anywhere near on the ground Ed was about to go outside to look for him when he saw a foot hanging from a tree branch slightly to the side of him. Looking up Ed saw Wrath sitting on a branch, swinging one foot slightly.

"Get in here!" Ed hissed. Just noticing Ed Wrath looked down, slid off his branch and into the room. Shutting the window Ed sighed. He had been really worried there for a second. Grabbing one of the trays on the bed Ed handed it to Wrath. "Here, eat this," Ed said, sitting on the bed, already starting to eat his own. Wrath stared at the bread, water, and some sort of meat on the tray before finally taking the meat and eating a piece of it.

"This is disgusting," Wrath mumbled, now nibbling the bread. Not expecting any sort of comment from the broken looking child Ed simply stared at Wrath for a second before bursting out laughing. Wrath just stared at him, the blank look in his eyes replaced with confusion. Ed stopped laughing and just shook his head, further confusing Wrath.

After they were done with there lunch Ed took their trays and threw them away. Ed didn't have anything else to do today so he stayed in his room with Wrath. Ed sat on his bed reading wile Wrath was on the windowsill, looking at the spot they had fought Envy. After a wile though Ed stopped reading and was just staring at the unusually silent boy. After a few moments Wrath noticed.

"What?" Wrath asked, not turning away from the window.

"I'm just thinking, Izumi created you, right?" Ed asked. Wrath visibly tensed, but calmed after a moment. He nodded. "Want to go there?" Ed asked. Wrath was gripping the windowsill tightly, Ed hoped that no one would notice the claw-like marks sure to be left behind.

"No," Wrath answered. Ed sighed, seeing that there was no way to get Wrath to stay with Izumi, yet, that is.

"Do you know anyone else who could take you in?" Ed asked. Wrath simply shook his head again. Ed sighed. "I guess you really are stuck with me then," Ed mumbled.

"I don't need to be with anyone," Wrath said, still turned away.

"I'm not letting a kid out all alone without a home," Ed said.

"I'm not just a kid," Wrath growled. Ed flopped down against his pillow and closed his eyes.

"Don't care," He said. Wrath glared at Ed for a full ten minutes before giving up and leaning against the windowsill again. After a few hours of silence a knock at the door nearly sent Wrath falling out the window. Pulling himself back inside he looked at Ed who motioned towards the closet. Wrath went and hid himself in the closet as Ed walk to the door. Wrath was hidden inside when Ed opened the door only to close it upon seeing the cornel.

"Edward!" Roy called, knocking on the door. Ed groaned and opened the door.

"What do you want?" Ed asked, rather annoyed. Roy walked in and looked around, getting the strangest feeling from the room.

"Well, you didn't exactly say much in our meeting today about your assessment," Roy started. Ed sat down on his bed, groaning.

"Is that why your hear, look, I'll pass the stupid thing alright, I got a lot of stuff to do so if you don't mind please get the hell out," Ed said. Roy looked around the room for some papers Ed could be working on or some half finished notes, but all he saw was a single alchemy book on the bookstand, placed upside down and open to hold the page.

"A lot to do? Like?" Roy asked. Ed frowned at the question.

"Just stuff, ok, it's not important," Ed attempted. He knew he sounded like he was hiding something, but he was and he wasn't very good at it. Ed chanced a glace over at the closet, everything looked fine, Wrath could probably last in there a little longer.

Inside the closet Wrath attempted to listen in on the conversation. He was beginning to feel like his old self again, the shock of being out cased by the homunculus and ultimately not able to see Despair again wearing off and being replaced with a slow anger.

Trying to look threw the small crack hearing Ed attempt to explain the many things he apparently had to do, Wrath saw a spider creep dangerously close to his face. Now, Wrath wasn't afraid of bugs, he just didn't want it on his face. Backing up from the insect and trying to swat it with his hand, Wrath lost his balance when stepping onto a tennis ball. Why Ed had a tennis ball in his closet Wrath didn't even have the time to wonder before he was shot out threw the closet doors.

Roy was about to give up and leave the temperamental boy alone when he heard something from the closet. Turning around he was more then a little shocked to see a young boy fall out. Ed looked positively terrified wile the boy looked more embarrassed then anything.

"Heh, there was a spider…" Wrath tried to explain to Ed. Roy looked back and forth from the boy on the floor to the boy on the bed.

"Fullmetal, it is strictly forbidden to keep pets in the dorms….."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Fullmetal, it is strictly forbidden to keep pets in the dorms…" Roy stated. Ed and Wrath both just stared at the man for a moment before what he said clicked.

"I am _not _a pet!" Wrath yelled, getting up off the ground. Roy just ignored him and looked to Ed who was still stuck on the bed in shock.

"Fullmetal, care to explain?" Roy asked. Ed just stared at him like he had no clue what he was talking about until he remembered.

"Oh, um. Well, this is Wrath? He, um, doesn't have a home so he's staying in my closet?" Ed attempted.

"Right, and why is that?" Roy asked.

"Um, cause he was kicked out of his house last night and he had no where else to go?" Ed said, still talking in questions. "Look, he's only been in here less then a day, I just didn't get permission, I'm trying to find a place for him so you don't have to worry," Ed said, regaining control of his mind. Roy nodded.

"And why did he get kicked out of his house?" Roy asked. Ed opened his mouth to answer but Wrath cut him off.

"None of your business, it has nothing to do with anyone here, he's just the only other person I know, alright?" Wrath nearly growled. Roy turned and faced Wrath.

"And just how do you know him?" Roy asked, now in full on interrogation mode.

"Through a friend," Wrath mumbled, not meeting Roy's stare.

"And why aren't you with this friend instead of Ed?" Roy asked. Wrath's face shot up as he glared at Roy.

"Shut up! It's none of your business!" Wrath yelled. Roy just ignored Wrath's yelling and turned to Ed again.

"So Edward, who is this friend of yours? He asked. Ed looked down.

"You wouldn't know him. A childhood friend. Haven't seen him for years," Ed mumbled. He couldn't let anyone know his brother was alive, especially the military. Roy nodded.

"Right, and where are you planning on sending him?" Roy asked, gesturing over to Wrath.

"Don't talk like I'm not in the room!" Wrath growled, no one paid him any mind though, so he just contented himself on glaring at Roy.

"My teacher's place," Ed said. Wrath stared at Ed confused, but decided not to say anything, figuring he was just saying something to get the guy away.

"When do you plan on doing that?" Roy asked. Wrath was getting pretty fed up with all this. Envy had been right when he said human's ask too many questions.

"Tomorrow, then I can concentrate on that stupid exam thing, alright? Would you leave now?" Ed asked. Roy smirked.

"Alright, I'll leave," Roy said and started out the door. Ed shut it once he was gone and waited until the footsteps disappeared before sighing.

"Why the hell did you fall out for!?" Ed yelled.

"It wasn't my fault, their was a spider! It's your fault for having a tennis ball in your closet!" Wrath yelled, going right back to his spot on the windowsill. Ed just stared perplexed for a moment before going to check the closet. Their _was _a tennis ball in there. Shrugging, Ed decided to drop it and just shut the closet door. Sitting back on his bed there was silence for a few minutes before Wrath spoke.

"Who is your teacher? Are you really gonna take me there tomorrow?" Wrath asked. Looking over at Wrath Ed was surprised to see his back, the window open and Wrath sitting with his legs out over the edge.

"Izumi," Ed started, he could see Wrath tense and waited for him to relax before continuing, "And no, but I am going to head that way tomorrow, but to where Al is, not Izumi, you can come if you want," Wrath stayed silent for a moment before sighing.

"I'll come, I need to talk to Despair," Wrath mumbled. Ed nodded and grabbed his book from where he had left it and continued reading.

Ed only realized he had fallen asleep when he woke up to a cool breeze sweeping in from the still open window. Opening groggy eyes Ed saw Wrath was still sitting with his legs out the window. "Get in here, and close that window," Ed grumbled, sitting up. Wrath did what he was told and saw Ed stretching once he turned around. "What time is it?" Ed asked.

"Almost eight," Wrath answered.

"Shoot, I hope their still serving food, stay in here I'll go see," Ed said, going off. Coming back with two trays of the same type of stuff they had had for lunch they both ate. Wrath mainly picked at the bland food but eventually finished it. They spent the next few hours in silence, neither very talkative, until Ed decided they should get to bed.

"We'll need to wake up early tomorrow to get an early train, it'll take almost all day to get there from here," Ed explained, placing the extra pillow and blanket on the ground for Wrath to use again. Wrath just nodded, he would rather just stay up the whole night then bother with waking up early, but humans need sleep so Wrath decided not to object.

Ed fell asleep hours before Wrath. Wrath wasn't even sure if he was going to sleep. Sighing Wrath turned over. He was terrified about seeing Despair tomorrow. What lies had Envy told him? For all he knew Despair might attack him on sight. Shaking his head Wrath tried to tell himself that Despair would never do that, Despair was his friend. But Despair might not think that anymore. Envy could of told him anything and Despair would of believed him. Despair might even think that Wrath had come here to kill Ed or something. Shuddering, Wrath tried to push all thoughts of Despair away and try to sleep. Sleep did not come easy.

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Once in the house Despair rushed up to his room. Envy said he would explain everything to Dante and so Despair didn't have to worry about any of that. Once in his room he shut the door and fell on his bed, starting to cry into his pillow. This was what? The second time in his life he's cried. Also the second since he met his brother. Homunculus weren't suppose to cry. Homunculus weren't supposed to have emotions but Despair didn't care about that. Wrath was his friend and he betrayed them all. _That's _what Despair cared about.

About half an hour later Despair heard someone enter his room. He didn't care to look, already knowing who it most likely was.

"Are you alright?" Envy asked, sitting down on the end of Despair's bed. He made sure to shut the door before saying anything in case someone was nearby and heard him. Despair shook his head and hugged his pillow tighter. Envy sighed. He didn't know why this kid was so emotional all the time. Once Envy thought about it though, Wrath could get pretty emotional too. Envy momentarily wondered if he had ever been like that. "Look, stop crying. Wrath was never your friend, he's just a trader. Besides, homunculus don't-" Envy started but was cut off by Despair, who flung up and glared at Envy, his face still covered in tears.

"Homunculus don't what!? Homunculus don't have emotions!? Homunculus don't feel!? Because I'm pretty damn sure I have emotions! What if I don't want to be a stupid mindless killing machine!? What dose that make me then!?" Despair yelled before running around Envy and out of the room.

Envy sat motionless on Despairs bed, mouth slightly open. Despair hardly ever spoke above a whisper and yelling was unheard of. "Damn it!" Envy yelled before getting up and running out of the room and after Despair.

Envy found him in Wrath's room, sitting on the bed with his back towards him. Envy wasn't sure if he wanted to go in there. He shouldn't want to go in there. What should he care if the stupid brats upset? Sighing, Envy walked in and shut the door behind him.

"What do you want?" Despair asked, not turning around. Envy wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. Sitting down next to Despair Envy wasn't sure what to say.

"Look, I don't know, I'm sorry," Envy mumbled. Despair kept his head down. Envy wanted to hurt him, He wanted to prove that he didn't need anybody let alone some stupid child. But he couldn't. Envy knew he couldn't, so he just wanted to leave. So he was going to leave. The stupid kid could cry here all by himself. Envy didn't care.

"Envy?" Despair asked quietly. Envy sighed. Answer his question and then leave. That's what he was going to do. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" Despair asked even quieter then before. No way, Envy thought. No way was he going to comfort some stupid kid. No. No. No.

"Alright, fine. But just this once."


	26. So Sorry!

... Sorry I have taken so long to update. My computer broke a week before school started and it's still not fixed. I can't update on any other computer in my house and I am currently at a friends house writing this. Please just know I have not given up on this story, but I may not be able to update until christmas when I get it fixed. Please don't be too mad at me, I will update as soon as I am able to.


	27. Chapter 27

_I. Am. So. SORRY! I'm not even sure if anyone even cares anymore, it's been two years since I ever even glanced at this story, or writing any fanfic actually. I never got my computer fixed, and I just got a job and was able to buy myself a laptop. _

_I wasn't going to update this, instead work on a new story for a different fandom, but rereading it I thought it was still good, at least better then memory led me to believe, and decided that I can do both. Well, lets see if I still got it, oh, and if you happen to like a manga called +anima and don't hate me with the burning passion of a thousand suns for dieing for two years, check out my other revival fic._

_Disclaimer: I don't own full metal alchemist and if I did I'd probably be dead for quitting in the middle of writing it at a rather dramatic part by thousands of angry fans._

_Chapter 26_

_Wrath stared at Ed as he slept. It was getting late, but he didn't know if he should wake the human up. He didn't even know if it really was late, he wasn't sure what times people usually woke up at. He thought about the last time he tried to wake up Ed, it hadn't gone so well, but Ed had said he wanted to wake up early so they could catch an early train. The black haired boy glanced over his shoulder out the window, the sun had been up for about two hours now, he figured he could wake Ed up now._

"_Ed?" Wrath asked, walking over to the bed. The blond grumbled and turned over. The homunculus scowled, just like the other time. Rolling his eyes he decided to skip to what had woke him up last time, and what he usually had to do to Despair when he decided to sleep, and push him off the bed._

"_Ah! Huh? What the? Wrath! What the hell was that for?" Ed yelled, trying to untangle himself from his blanket. Wrath just rolled his eyes again and shrugged, he was too worried about meeting Despair to argue with the Full metal brat._

"_Waking you up," The boy said, an annoyed look still plastered on his face. Ed, finally out of the blankets, glanced at the clock before getting dressed. Once in his outfit of red coat, black pants and shirt and braid, he turned to the still peeved looking boy in the room. Ed wondered why he was so angry looking anyway, he wasn't the one who had been pushed out of his bed, but then remembering why he was there in the first place, and the simple fact that his name was Wrath, Ed decided that it had been a pretty stupid question._

"_C'mon, let's go get some breakfast and head to the train station," Ed told the young sin, and smiled when he saw the face he had made at the mention of breakfast. "Don't worry, we're not getting that disgusting cafeteria food, I hate it as much as you do," He looked a bit less moody after hearing this, and the two headed out of the small dorm room after Ed grab a few small things, mainly just some money._

_Although a few people did glance at Wrath strangely as the two were making their way through the hallways, Ed was glad that no one actually stopped to question them. Soon they were out of central HQ and at a small café. An awkward silence hung over their heads the entire time, both want to speak but neither daring to be the first to do so. Finally, Ed broke first_

"_So, will you tell me now?" He asked, mouth still full. Wrath looked up from the plate he was picking at with a questioning look, so Ed continued. "What's with Envy? You didn't know he'd been contacting me or something? And who's controlling you guys? Where do Al and I fit into all of this? I know you have answers, and it's not like you have any loyalties to the homunculus anymore, right?" Wrath frowned, apparently thinking over the questions. He wasn't sure what he should tell Ed yet, hell he wasn't even really sure what he knew._

"_Master's name is Dante, she's even older then Envy, but she's not a homunculus, although I wouldn't say she was a human anymore, but that's just my personal opinion," Wrath started. Ed nodded, hoping the young sin would continue, he could finally get some solid leads and maybe figure out a way to help Al. "I don't know what Envy's up to, but it can't be good, if master's involved then that's even worse. As to where you two fit into it, Despair is easy, he's a homunculus, all the homunculus work for Dante, except for Greed, and now me, apparently," Wrath thought back to when Greed had kidnapped himself and Despair, Envy had come and saved them. It was then Wrath had really noticed that Envy treated Despair differently then the others, Wrath didn't really understand it, and he just shrugged. "Y'know, it's just a hunch, but I think Despair'll be safe for a while,"_

"_What? Why?" Ed asked, and Wrath just shrugged again, pushing his food around on his plate._

"_I just don't think Envy will hurt him, not physically, anyway," The black haired boy said. Ed just nodded, then stood up from his seat._

"_Well, we better get going, we got a train to catch, right?" The blond said cheerfully. Wrath just raised his eyebrow at the older teen before standing up as well. He was worried about seeing Despair, but he had to try to explain himself to him, and if he saw him with his stupid beloved brother, he would trust him, right? Fallowing Ed to the train station, he wasn't so sure, Despair had two_ stupid beloved brothers, which one would he listen to?

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Despair was still asleep when Envy had left the room. It was still very early, the sun hadn't even come up yet, but he needed some alone time from the brat, Despair can mope on his own today. Envy didn't care.

Despair awoke a few hours later, confused as to why he was in Envy's room, until the events of day before returned. The youngest sin pushed himself off the bed and hoped to leave the large mansion before seeing anyone, even Envy, he just wanted to be alone right now, but, as per usual, luck was not on his side.

"Hello, Despair," The addressed boy stopped in his tracks and turned to the one who'd spoken.

"Yes, Pride?" He asked. Pride was never home, always working pretending to be the president. He wondered what had brought the man here now. Hopefully it wasn't Wrath. Despair wanted to find him before anyone else did, there had to be some reason as to why he did whatever he did, and Despair was going to find him and get the whole story. At least, he hoped he was going to, anyway. The old looking man walked towards him, hand on his sword hilt. Despair took a step back, now glaring at the president, his mouth in a snarl. Pride stopped walking, and began to laugh loudly.

"Well, well, you've certainly changed since our last meeting. What happened to Envy's timid little pet?" The second part was more of an accusation, the joyous, fake tone gone from his voice. Despair wasn't sure what to say, what he'd just done was rather out of character for him, especially for someone he saw as few and far between as Pride. Figuring he should just answer already so that he could leave, he shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Everybody changes, maybe I've been spending too much time with Envy; and you? What brings you here from the capital, Mr. President?" Despair wasn't sure where this was coming from, he usually was much more timid, but he was just angry and annoyed and wanted to get our the there right now and Pride was stopping him from doing that.

"Simply checking in with master, now if you'll excuse me," Pride spoke in his calm, condescending voice as he walked past Despair. Once certain that Pride was far enough away, which was hard seeing as he had the ultimate eye, so he wasn't sure just how far Pride could see behind himself, he ran the rest of the way through the house, not stopping until he was outside, at the edge of the woods.

"Now what?" The young sin asked to no one, not sure about his next plan of action. He didn't know where to look for Wrath, and knew he couldn't leave the house for too long, everyone knew he was close to Wrath, he'd have to be back by night in order to avoid suspicion. Not sure where else to go he made his way to the clearing. Ed was in Central, he wouldn't show up, but it was nice to just sit and think, to try and put all the pieces together, and plan his next move.

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Ed and Wrath stepped off the train at Dublith, Wrath appearing rather nervous. "What's wrong with Wrath?" Ed asked, and began to laugh at his lame little joke. Wrath crossed his arms in a huff, not finding it as amusing.

"_She's _here, isn't she? How long till we get to the forest? I wanna talk to Despair," Wrath asked, sounding quite a bit like a little kid. Ed just sighed and rolled his eyes. Why did this kid have to hate Izumi so much, Ed had been hoping he could find a way to dump him off there, but that didn't seem like it was going to be happening, and he did guess he could be helpful in fights, but Ed still didn't trust the kid as far as he could throw him.

"Soon, c'mon," Ed said, and began to walk in the direction of the woods. A few hours later the mix-matched pair was making there way through the forest.

"Y'know, we don't even know if Al's gonna be there," Ed said, pushing a branch away from his face, which ended up flinging back into Wrath's.

"Then we'll wait there until Despair dose come" the sin growled, pushing the branch away angrily. They had almost made it to the clearing, Ed could see the now familiar end of the path coming up and started to hurry, although the chances of Al being there were slim, Wrath was right, they would wait until he did show up, he would eventually.

Despair lifted his head from the stick he was currently picking apart. He still couldn't figure out where to look for Wrath. He considered his creator's house, but he never knew if he was in the mood where he hated her or not, he usually was. Staring in the direction Ed usually came from, he heard movement, then saw some branches moving around a bit, then some yellow, some red and a little bit of black making it's way though the green.

"Ed!" Despair called happily. He needed to talk to Ed right now, maybe he could help him with Wrath. Ed smiled and walked into the clearing, and only then did Despair notice something was fallowing him. "Huh? What's… Wrath!" Despair exclaimed upon seeing his friend. He wore that ashamed look he got sometimes, and wouldn't look Despair in the eyes.

"Heh, hi 'Spair," Wrath said sheepishly. Despair just stared at him, pretty much dumbstruck. Finally Ed sighed and leaned onto a tree.

"Wrath had come to tell me about something, but then found out Envy was contacting me, which apparently he didn't know, but when he went to tell you, Envy came and attacked, so the kid's been with me since," Ed explained, hoping that just being blunt about it would be the best plan of action, so that Al could get over the shock fast and then they could actually decide on what to do. Al just nodded a few times, a still shocked look on his face, before realization took over, and he hit himself in the face.

"Oh course! Envy said you had been talking about us to a state alchemist! I should of known it was _Ed_!" Despair exclaimed and Wrath looked rather relieved. Despair's smile soon faded, though, and he gave them both a questioning look. "But, what do you mean, Envy's been contacting Ed? I mean, master's interested in him, so of course Envy's probably talked to him, that doesn't mean he knows who Ed is, that he's my brother, right? Right? Why wont you two answer me!" Despair yelled, beginning to become frantic. Wrath wouldn't look at him again, and Ed let out a long sigh.

"Look, Al, we're not entirely sure what's going on here, but we do know two things, one, it's not good, and two, Envy's at the bottom of it all."

Once again I'm so sorry! Well, I'll try to update this about once a week again, the same goes for any other story I have. Schools almost over, so I should have time. Well, review please, it would make me oh so happy. ^_^"


	28. Chapter 28

Well, it's that time again. That time when I make sure this fanfic does not once again fall into oblivion. Well, not much else to say, so here's the next chapter.

Chapter 27

Despair was frozen. That couldn't be true, could it? There was no way, all this time, Envy was… No, that couldn't be. He shook his head, not looking at either Ed or Wrath now.

'N-no. You're wrong. Envy wouldn't… Envy wouldn't do something like that to me!" Despair insisted, and it was true. It had to be, he trusted Envy, but here were the only two other people he trusted in the world saying that it _wasn't_ true and that Envy _was_ tricking him. This had to be some kind of mistake, Envy was like… He was like a… "Why? Name one good reason why Envy would do something like this! He's my friend," Despair tried pitifully

Ed and Wrath quickly stole a glance at each other, neither quite knowing a 'why.' Despair saw them though, but when they looked back at him, their expressions only seemed sadder, neither wanting to hurt him anymore.

"'Spair, he _killed_ you," Wrath said finally, causing Despair to freeze. Ed spun his head towards the black haired boy, shocked as well, he didn't know if Al had remembered that, or if Envy had told Wrath. "I mean, do you _really_ think that he needs a reason for _anything _after that?" Wrath asked quietly. Despair was silent. Both Ed and Wrath were afraid to say anything, in case he completely broke. He had his head facing downward, so neither could see his face. Finally his head did come up, completely unreadable, a perfect poker face. It scared Ed, he'd never seen his brother look so blank before, not even in death. Wrath wasn't scared, but worried, he'd seen Despair use that face before, but only when he knew that any emotion could be used agents him. Did he think they were trying to trick him or something?

"I'm sorry, but I need to leave now. If you could, please return to this spot in three days, I need to look into some things. Goodbye," Despairs voice was clear and monotonous, like he had just shut off his emotions. Ed wanted to say something, but he wasn't able to find his voice before Al had already left the clearing.

Wrath nearly jumped a foot in the air when Ed's knees had given out, and the teen slumped to the ground. Wrath just snorted. "Now who's the pitiful one. Yeah, yeah, I know that's what you thought I was when I first got friggin' exiled from the homunculus, but whatever, just stand up, ya idiot," Wrath said, pulling Ed up by his shoulder. The funny thing was, Wrath was actually trying to be helpful, and it was kind of working, well, Ed was standing anyway, but he still looked lost.

"C'mon Full metal, let's head back to that town, it's not too far. Human's like to sleep in buildings more then outside, right?" Wrath ranted almost the whole way back to the town. He didn't want to be going there, _she_ was there, but it was a big town, what were the chances of running into her? Wrath sighed, Ed just had to go all 'lost puppy dog' on him.

"What was wrong with him?" Wrath lost his footing and tripped over a rock, Ed's question was so unsuspected after over an hour of silence from the blond teen and ten minutes of it from the black haired sin. Growling and pushing himself off the ground Wrath turned towards Ed. The sun was going to set soon, they needed to get to the town quick if they were going to get there before night, but he couldn't just ignore Ed if he started talking again all of a sudden, the silence was starting to drive him mad.

"What did you say?" Wrath asked, slightly more angrily then he meant, but he couldn't really help it, to say he needed anger management was a huge understatement.

"What was wrong with him? Al, I mean I've never… He's never looked like that before," Ed asked again. Wrath sighed and began walking forward again, and Ed fallowed slowly.

"He was trying to hide his emotions, wasn't it obvious, and _I've _seen him look like that before, just a little while ago actually, when we were kidnapped by Greed…" Wrath trailed off. Ed raised an eyebrow, what was Wrath mumbling about now? Ed was starting to feel more like himself now, and was now swearing that the stupid brat in front of him must have had at least a mild form of ADD.

Wrath's head turned towards the sound of a snapping twig, and he licked his lips. "We're not gonna get there by night fall, wait here, I'll catch us some dinner," The homunculus said, rather happily, with the hint of a bloodlust in his eyes, then ran very quickly into the surrounding shrubbery.

Staring at the bush his strange young companion ran into, Ed shuddered slightly. You know what, scratch that, he most defiantly had a cast of mild to _severe_ AD_H_D.

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Despair walked calmly into the large house he called home. He told Ed and Wrath to meet him at the clearing in three days, so that gave him three days to think calmly about this. He needed to bring up the subject with Envy inconspicuously, so that he wouldn't suspect anything. He needed to do it when no one else was around, too. Yes, he could do this, it would be simple to find out the truth, just get both sides of the story, and see how they match up, then go on from there, simple. Despair took a deep breath… and his poker face suddenly shattered.

"Envy!" The young sin called, tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. What in the world had happened to simple and inconspicuously? "Envy!" He called again, now running through the hallways, yelling the name over and over again. He was able to keep the tears mostly at bay, although a few slipped here and there. "Env-Uff!" Despair attempted to call out again, but ran into something soft, but not soft enough that it didn't knock him over, that is.

"_What_ are you _doing_?" Lust asked, looking extremely annoyed. Despair tried to regain his poker face, but couldn't somehow. He just sat there, looking pitiful and trying to get his bottom lip to stop shaking. Lust sighed and put her head in her hand while she pointed down the hallway with the other. "Envy's in the library," She grumbled out. Despair just nodded as he got up off the ground and ran around the older homunculus. Lust rolled her eyes as she walked away, Envy just couldn't tell when he should stop acting, could he?

Despair stopped in front of the library's doors and tried to regain his composure. It was almost back, but when he grabbed the doorknob, he almost completely lost it again. He didn't want to go in there, he didn't want to find out what Ed and Wrath were saying was true, but he didn't want to find out that they were lying to him either, because why would they lie. Taking a shaky breath, he closed his grip on the antique handle and pushed the door open.

Envy lifted his head out of his book lazily, but stood up at a much more urgent pace when he saw Despair near tears standing in the doorway. He was able to stop himself, though, because he was Envy and he didn't care about some stupid kid who was upset about his stupid friend betraying him. He didn't care, but that didn't mean he would push the kid away when he ran across the room and practically knocked Envy over as he clung onto his waist, tears coming at full force now. Envy could only wonder what had happened to make him _this_ upset all of a sudden. Had Wrath been…?

"Why?" Envy was barely able to make it out from all the crying, but Despair had started talking. "Why? Why'd you t-trick m-me? I thought… I th-ought…" The youngest sin didn't know where this was coming from. He was suppose to be calm! He didn't know the whole story yet! But he couldn't stop, and the tears just kept coming.

Envy was confused, and worried. Tricked him? What had Despair found out? If.. If Wrath had somehow gotten to Despair, what would happen? "What in the world are you blubbering about?" The oldest sin asked, trying his best to sound carefree, and he did sound carefree, because his best was _the _best, for he was the ultimate mask.

Despair lifted his head up so that he could now face Envy, he needed to see his face when he spoke, to see if it was true or not. "Why didn't you tell me I h-had a brother? I-if you knew and you've s-spoken to him? W-why'd you get Wrath s-sent away, when he was j-just talking to Ed?" Envy was frozen stiff, the guilt seeming to just seep out of every pore. Despair pulled himself away from him. Tears still ran down his face, but they weren't of sadness and confusion anymore, he had his answer. They were from rage, which, technically, he shouldn't be able to feel, along with any other emotion except for despair, but Despair didn't care about that, because he didn't care about anything from this house he used to call a home.

"Why? Why were you trying to get rid of the only two other people I considered friends? Why'd you trick me for so _long_? Did you get some kind of sick amusement out of it? Were you _laughing_ the whole time, behind my back? Just screwing with my head? I bet you got a big laugh out of it, didn't you? You _killed _me, Envy! You killed me then tried to befriend me! Become like a brother to me!" The words flung like fire from the little boy's mouth. Never had he been so angry. Envy couldn't move, or think, or even breath. He just stared, and Despair started right back with more fire then anyone could of even thought possible to burn in such a small, meek body.

"Well it's over. I'm done with the tricks. Good bye Envy, and good riddance," with that, Despair turned around and walked out of the library where he had spent so much time with the older sin, but that's what he was, a sin. Envy slunk down to him knees, and just _stared_. Not able to think at the moment. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt helpless. Completely and utterly helpless.

Despair walked briskly through the forest, his poker face back. _Now_ he was calm. _Now_ he was inconspicuous. But of course, it was only for a moment. Ten minutes into the woods, the tears came right back, and he was pretty sure the poker face was gone for good, along with almost everything else.

Well, there you have it. Is it almost over? I don't know, maybe, maybe not? Well, please review if you happen to be reading this please! *_*


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